Tethers Unlimited, Inc.
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Founded | Bothell, Washington |
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Headquarters | Bothell, Washington |
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Tethers Unlimited, Inc. (TUI) is an American private aerospace company headquartered near Seattle, Washington, which performs research and development of new products and technologies for space, sea, and air.
Founded in 1994 by Dr. Robert P. Hoyt and Dr. Robert L. Forward, Tethers Unlimited began developing products based on space tether technologies, including concepts for removal of space debris[1] and momentum exchange tethers for launching payloads into higher orbits. TUI has since broadened its suite of technologies to include power, propulsion, actuation, and communications systems for small satellites, robotic technologies for on-orbit fabrication and assembly, optical fiber winding and deployment, software defined radio communications, and 3D printed radiation shielding.
In 2007, in collaboration with Stanford University, the company launched the Multi-Application Survivable Tether (MAST) experiment to test the survivability of tethers in space.[2][3][4]
References
- ↑ Schwartz, Evan I. (May 24, 2010). "The Looming Space Junk Crisis: It's Time to Take Out the Trash". Wired. p. 3.
- ↑ Hoyt, Robert; Slostad, Jeffrey; Twiggs, Robert (2003). "The Multi-application Survivable Tether (MAST) Experiment". Tethers Unlimited, Inc.
- ↑ Greenfieldboyce, Nell (April 16, 2007). "Space Tethers: Slinging Objects in Orbit?". NPR.
- ↑ McKee, Maggie (March 28, 2007). "'Inspector Gadget' to star in space tether test". New Scientist.
External links
- Official website
- Interview with Robert Hoyt on The Space Show (August 1, 2006).
- "Tethers Unlimited" on YouTube (September 24, 2010).
- Incredible Technology: Spiderlike Robots Could Build Giant Space Structures Space.com (April 6, 2015)