Nov 4 1982
From The Space Library
MSFC said that it had selected Martin Marietta Aerospace to negotiate a $1-million contract for a tethered-satellite system concept. A tethered-satellite system would go into orbit on the Space Shuttle in the late 1980s, suspended downward from the cargo bay on a 60-mile-long tether to troll the atmosphere for days as a time to gather magnetospheric, atmospheric, and gravitational data. It could also be deployed upward to study electrodynamic and other phenomena. The' area to be- studied was too high for airplanes, too low for satellites to, cover for long, and reachable only for brief periods by instrument-laden rockets.
Under a letter of agreement signed in 1981, NASA would join with Italy in developing and launching the system, building the deployment system and managing systems integration and mission operations, while Italy built the satellite itself. (NASA Release 82-169; MSFC Release 82-102)
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