Tether

USA / SPACE 1 MARCH,1996

TETHERED SATELLITE

Joint NASA and the Italian Space Agency (ASI)
Tethered Satellite STS-75 Space Shuttle mission.

During the mission the Tether began generating three times the power predicted during modelling of the Satellite causing arcing, which is believed to have weakened the structure and also charred the Kevlar insulation.
The arcing occurred because either external foreign object
penetration (but not orbital debris or micrometeoroids) or a
defect in the tether caused a breach in the layer of
insulation surrounding the tether conductor. The insulation
breach provided a path for the current to jump, or arc, from
the copper wire in the tether to a nearby electrical ground.

The objects that are passing behind the 12 mile long Tether are not mentioned in the report.