Summary of YES2
On the 25th of September 2007, an unusual world-record was broken: the longest tether in space. The second Young Engineers’ Satellite (YES2) piggybacked on the Foton microgravity platform with the objective of a controlled deployment of a 32 km tether. Its purpose was to release a small spherical re-entry capsule, Fotino, accurately into a re-entry trajectory. YES2 thus intended to demonstrate SpaceMail, a concept for sample return from the International Space Station (ISS). Data analysis has since shown that the deployment has been largely successful, and thus created the tallest structure in space ever. The landing area of Fotino could be determined, although the capsule has not yet been retrieved. YES2 is of significance as Europe’s first tether deployment, opening the way for a variety of future tether applications. It is the more remarkable that the satellite and its innovative technologies were fully developed and qualified by students and young engineers from all over Europe, Australia and Russia, as part of the activities of ESA’s Education Department.