An Electrodynamic Drag Tether for Satellite Deorbit: Current, Drag Force and Decay-Time Budgets

This study sizes the system named in its title from stated physical relations and a stated operating basis, and reports the result as SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED. The operating principle is electrodynamic tether operated in generator mode, converting orbital energy into electrical power and drag. The drag tether is a civilian end-of-life disposal system intended to lower retired satellites to atmospheric disposal; it carries no payload other than the host satellite's own disposal equipment. Every performance figure is computed by the deposited script from its inputs rather than asserted, and the headline outcomes include motional electromotive force along the tether of 868.6 volts; circuit current in generator mode of 1.79 amperes; orbit-averaged drag force of 0.206 newtons; electrical power generated during descent of 1555.6 watts. Mass, power, time and energy budgets are assembled from components so they can be audited line by line, off-design behaviour is discussed openly, and the limits of the sizing are stated in full. The design is presented as a civilian system throughout, with its governing constraint identified and quantified rather than merely encountered.