On the dynamics of tether-connected two-body systems

Research that has been carried out in this area is surveyed. Attention is called to a cycle of works relating to the Shuttle program; here the possibility of tethered system dynamics control through a change in the tether length is considered. It is noted that this approach makes it possible to efficiently introduce damping in the tether length, thereby providing good dynamical characteristics to the system motion in the orbital plane. It is also pointed out that whereas a large number of works are concerned with tethered systems under the gravity stabilization control mode, the aerodynamic torque control is poorly studied despite its usefulness for experiments with scientific purposes. Other studies described deal with the spatial oscillations of the tethered system (two material points connected by a flexible tether) in both librational and rotational modes providing non-zero tension of the tether.