Abstract:
Over the next fifteen years, an increasing number of industrial enterprise and national defense will depend on space-based systems. The permanently manned space station is now a committed program by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and is expected to go into operational phase by 1992. Power requirements on the space shuttle, which is around 10 kW now, may reach up to 375 kW on the space station within a decade. For military applications, average power approaching 1 NW with pulsed power in excess of 10 tollelic may also be required by future space-based weapons by the turn of this century. Components for these power systems will have to be transported from earth using space shuttles, and then individually tested in the "hostile" space environment much before they are assembled and used. Costs presently run around $10, 000 per kilogram of payload on the shuttle, and therefore, highly efficient, compact and lightweight power components are required for future space applications.
Page(s):
29-32
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: Mehran University Research Journal of Engineering and Technology, Volume: 4, Issue: 4, Year: 1985