New Techniques for Collecting Data Around the Space Station

Abstract - The interaction in the upper ionosphere between the ambient medium and the space station or other orbiting vehicles in the 1990s will require measurements from essentially nonintrusive instrumentation and the ability to repeat those measurements at will in an extended region about a space vehicle. A diagnostic package on a communications and control umbilical, a 'spin-cast' diagnostic package (SCDP), can complement free flyers and attached instrumentation in the region from 10 m to 1 km which is prohibited to free flyers. The basic concept for the SCDP is to cast off on an umbilical line in some chosen direction a small, battery powered, instrumentation package and then to reel it back in while taking measurements. A typical package might include pressure monitors, various plasma probes, magnetometers, plasma wave, and optical sensors which could include video imaging. This paper proposes a method for rapid deployment and retrieval of the constrained plasma package. The package follows a 'quasi' free orbit for most of the time while the umbilical is used to impart the required Delta Vs to the package. The paper also proposes a complementary method for collecting data beyond the restricted zone whereby a free-flying plasma package is injected into a moon orbit around the space station.