SATELLITE POWER SYSTEM CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION PROGRAM CRITICAL SUPPORTING INVESTIGATIONS "SUMMARY" J. W. Seyl NASA/Johnson Space Center - Houston, Texas The Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are conducting a broad assessment of the Satellite Power System (SPS) under the Concept Development and Evaluation Program which started in 1977 and will be completed in 1980. This program is intended to assess the SPS concept from a technical, environmental, social and economic viewpoint, to compare it with other advanced energy possibilities, and to make recommendations for future efforts. During this program, NASA has been primarily involved in the system definition area which is aimed at defining a reference system for which the various assessments can be made. In addition, NASA is assessing the impact of emerging technologies on the SPS concept and conducting critical experimental and analytical supporting investigations when required. The NASA has conducted parallel system studies with the Boeing Aerospace Company and Rockwell International to define overall system concepts and operational scenario's. In addition, several independent contracts have been awarded by NASA to investigate specific critical technology areas in more depth than can be accomplished in a system level contract. The majority of these investigations have been accomplished through individual government sponsored contracts of less than $100K in magnitude. The nine (9) specific tasks which fall into this category are listed below: (1) Design and breadboard evaluation of the SPS reference phase control system concept, Lockheed Engineering and Management Services Company, Inc., (LEMSCO) ; (2) SPS fiber optics link assessment, Boeing Aerospace Company; (3) Eight element S-band active ret rodirective array, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) ; (4) SPS antenna element evaluation, Boeing Aerospace Company; (5) SPS solid state antenna power combiner, Boeing Aerospace Company; (6) SPS solid state amplifier development program, Radio Corporation of America (RCA); (7) SPS magnetron tube assessment, Raytheon Company; (8) Microwave ionosphere interaction experiment, Applied Research Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin; and (9) Solid state sandwich concept design consideration and issues, Raytheon Company. The major objectives established in each of the above tasks and their present status and findings cannot be presented in this short paper. However, two examples will be given to illustrate the type of investigations which are representative of these tasks. The Boeing Aerospace Corporation was awarded a $30K contract by the Johnson Space Center (JSC) to assess the potential application of fiber optic transmission links for the phase reference signal distribution across the SPS one kilometer antenna. Initially, analytical evaluations of various types of emitters and detectors and various fiber characteristics were made. Four
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