The Space Power Programme of the European Space Agency K. P. BOGUS, G. DUDLEY, J. HAINES, D. KASSING, & D. O'SULLIVAN1 SUMMARY The main objective of the ESA space power programme is to provide future ESA missions in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) as well as various scientific missions with suitable power systems. The main development activities needed for these three mission categories until the mid-nineties are described in this paper. A 120 volt multiple power bus system incorporating failure tolerant, single error control loops and new power distribution and protection concepts with improved flexibility with respect to payload reconfiguration is under development for COL UMBUS elements. Furthermore, failure tolerant end-to-end optimized power system architectures for telecommunications missions are under development. In the area of power generation, the main elements under current consideration are advanced silicon and GaAs solar cells, interconnection technologies for 10 year life in LEO, and high voltage array concepts with better protection against atomic oxygen, micrometeoroids and plasma interactions. Substantial development efforts in energy storage involve nickel-hydrogen batteries for secondary storage and fuel cells as the primary storage system for HERMES. 1. Introduction ESA's space power programme plans and activities are derived from present and future European mission requirements. This technology programme encompasses power systems, power generation, energy storage and power conditioning technology. Power systems continue to grow in order to meet steadily increasing European space mission requirements. Increasing requirements are associated with LEO missions, with COLUMBUS being the most outstanding example. In addition to general growth in requirements, which increases the importance of power system mass and cost, a number of new developments are being driven by specific requirements in one of the main mission categories (LEO, GEO and deep space). 2. The European Mission Scenario Through 1999 The major European space programmes now being undertaken comprise a more systematic, powerful and broadly scoped approach to space activities than the programs pursued in the first decades of space exploration. This systematic approach is being used in the classical areas of space sciences, microgravity sciences, Earth observation and telecommunications as well as in newer fields. The infrastructure * ESA-ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands.
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