Tether

A tether is a cord, fixture, or signal that anchors something movable to a reference point which may be fixed or moving. There are a number of applications for tethers: balloons, kites, tethered wind-energy conversion systems, anchors, tethered water-flow energy conversion systems, towing, animal constraint, and power-kiting. Tethers may break by various means; if a tether is a signal, then interruption by signal barriers breaks the tether. If the tether is a cord or rope, then upon reaching the breaking strength of the tether, the tether fails in its function. Failure modes for tethers are considered when designing arrangements where a tether is needed. When a tether or line breaks suddenly, backlash of the segments may cause severe damage or loss of life; safety links are sometimes used to prevent excessive tension in a tether involved in towing objects or persons, like in the towing of sailplanes; the safety link in a tether is thus a tether itself. Tethering objects to prevent theft of an object like a computer at a school or library is now commonly seen.

Other articles related to "tether, tethers":

Space Elevator Safety - Corrosion
... Corrosion is thought by some to be a risk to any thinly built tether (which most designs call for) ... A tether will consequently need to either be made from a corrosion-resistant material or have a corrosion-resistant coating, adding to weight ... Another potential solution to the corrosion problem is a continuous renewal of the tether surface (which could be done from standard, though possibly slower elevators) ...
Multi-Application Survivable Tether
... The Multi-Application Survivable Tether (MAST) experiment was an in-space investigation designed to use picosatellite spacecraft connected by tethers to better understand the survivability of tethers ... to separate and deploy a 1 km (0.62 mi) tether ... Transfer (STTR) collaboration between Tethers Unlimited, Inc ...
List Of Cube Sats - Space Tether
... For more details on tethers in space, see Tether satellite ... For more details on space missions using tethers, see Space tether missions ... MAST, by Tethers Unlimited The Multi-Application Survivable Tether experiment, based in the United States, was launched 17 April 2007 aboard a Dnepr rocket ...
Multi-Application Survivable Tether - Satellites
... satellite in the stack, called "Gadget", is the tether inspector ... was designed to slowly crawl up and down the tether after deployment, taking pictures as it goes ... Ted "Ted", the tether deployer satellite, is at one end of the stack ...