De-orbiting spacecraft with electrodynamic tether devices

De-orbiting devices based on the use of conducting tethers have been recently proposed as innovative solutions to remove satellites and upper stages from low earth orbit when they have completed their missions. Studies of such devices are currently being planned, or are in the early development phase, in the US and Europe. A flight experiment to validate the performance of the bare electrodynamic tether in space and demonstrate its capability to produce thrust is planned by NASA in the first half of 2003. The main objective of this presentation will be to show the various electrodynamic tether systems recently proposed to de-orbit LEO spacecraft, and to emphasize their performances in terms of the orbital decay times.