Abstract: Principles and performance features of several flexible capture technologies are analyzed and some representative cases are given. The space tethered capture technology is one of the effective and engineering-realizable flexible capture methods because of its relative maturity in theoretical and experimental study. Aiming at the tumbling problems during the capture process of a space non-cooperative target, some common contact-type detumbling methods are compared. It is shown that the one-step despun method has a better application prospect for its simultaneous realization of capture and despun. The tether models and tether control mechanism are summarized. The applicable conditions of the tether models and the design advice of the tether control mechanism are given. Finally, the future prospects of the space tethered capture technology are proposed．

Key words: Space non-cooperative target, Flexible capture, Detumbling methods, Tether model, Tether control mechanism