Out of the various experiments conducted in space, the space tether experiment conducted by a team of students calling themselves YES2 is probably the most interesting and record breaking experiment. The primary idea was to create a space tether that will help the folks in space deliver parcels back to earth. The tether was built to be 19.7 mile long and Foton M3 spacecraft was responsible for uncoiling this tether in space.
So, essentially a mail delivery system is what these people designed. Even though the tether system broke the record of longest man made object flown in space, the experimental project was a failure. Due to a ‘technical snag’, the system failed. The extremely imperative telemetry data of the system stopped functioning.
The folks who designed the whole system were kind of disappointed. Mission analyst Marco Stelzer expressed his disappointed and grief:
We were kind of disappointed by the fact.Later on, we found out that the tether deployed to its full length, even more than originally planned
According to reports from the U.S. Space Surveillance Network, the Foton moved a mile higher into orbit before cutting the capsule loose. The sad part is that the on board beacon system of the capsule failed to get activated and there’s no clue as to where the capsule might be.
Several theories exist regarding the existence of the capsule. Nevertheless, this was a great experiment. In future, we can expect a mail system to be created in space out of a tether. I think that’s a pretty neat idea. The ESA education office played a crucial role in this project.