Artist's concept of NASA's Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System - called ProSEDS - portrays the system as the tether is deployed in space. Inexpensive and reusable, Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer technology has the potential to turn orbiting, in-space tethers into space tugboats -- replacing costly traditional chemical propulsion and enabling a variety of space-based missions. Credit: NASA
