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The Multi-Application Survivable Tether (MAST) experiment was an in-space investigation designed to use CubeSat spacecraft connected by tethers to better understand the survivability of tethers in space.〔Robert Hoyt, Jeffrey Slostad, and Robert Twiggs, "(The Multi-application Survivable Tether (MAST) Experiment )," paper AIAA-2003-5219 presented at the 39th AIAAA/SME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, Huntsville AL, July 2003〕 It was launched as a secondary payload on a Dnepr rocket on 17 April 2007 into a 98°, 647 x 782 km orbit. The MAST payload incorporated three picosatellites, named "Ralph," "Ted," and "Gadget," which were intended to separate and deploy a tether. The experiment hardware was designed under a NASA Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) collaboration between Tethers Unlimited, Inc. (TUI) and Stanford University, with TUI developing the tether, tether deployer, tether inspection subsystem, satellite avionics, and software, and Stanford students developing the satellite structures and assisting with the avionics design.〔 (【引用サイトリンク】 The MAST Experiment ) 〕 The experiment is currently on-orbit. After launch, as of 25 April 2007, TUI had made contact with the "Gadget" picosatellite, but not with "Ted", the tether-deployer picosatellite, or "Ralph," the end mass.〔 (【引用サイトリンク】 MAST Blog ) 〕 == Satellites == The MAST experiment consists of three CubeSats (3U) launched together as a stack.〔 The entire stack was about the size of a loaf of bread.〔Kelly Young, "(No signal yet heard from tether-deploying satellite )," ''New Scientist,'' 25 April 2007 (accessed 16 February 2012)〕 ; Gadget The middle satellite in the stack, called "Gadget", is the tether inspector. Gadget was designed to slowly crawl up and down the tether after deployment, acquiring images as it moves.〔 As of 9 May 2007, the MAST team has downloaded over 1 MB of data from Gadget. Gadget's GPS receiver has acquired an almanac from the GPS satellites, but apparently has not yet achieved a trajectory solution. ; Ted "Ted", the tether deployer satellite, is at one end of the stack. Researchers were unable to establish contact with Ted,〔 and remain uncertain of its status. ; Ralph "Ralph" is at the other end of the stack, and is described as simply a "tether endmass". Its design did include a radio, but the groundstation has not received any signals from Ralph. They think Ralph's battery charge has dropped below the level needed to sustain radio operation.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Multi-Application Survivable Tether」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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