Say Yes2 Another Tether Launch – This Time a 30 KM Long Tether

So after posting the the story on tomorrow’s launch of Tether Unlimited’s MAST Experiment a couple of days ago, which we promoted on NASA Watch, we were subsequently contacted by Second Young Engineers’ Satellite (YES2) team about their upcoming tether launch. And what an exciting project it is. The Yes2 team is sponsored by ESA and the satellite is expected to launch in early May after its final review. They sent us a press release with the latest news including this description of the experiment:

“One of the most important aspects of this innovative mission is the deployment of a 30 km long tether to deploy the Fotino mini-satellite and re-entry capsule. . Not only will this be the longest artificial structure ever deployed in space, but it will also be the first time that a tether has been used to return a payload from space. The flight is intended to demonstrate how such a tether can be used to change a satellite’s orbit without attitude control systems or rocket engines.”

Now for the video …

YES2 presentation by Ape (in Italian – nice view of spacecraft) – YES2 presented by Fernando Apesteguía before the thermo-vacuum test in ESTEC.