CONCEPTION OF SPACECRAFT CENTRALIZED POWER-SUPPLY

Reliable power supply for spacecraft is one of the central problems de termining the future development of space technology. The traditional solution to this problem implies having an autonomous power plant on b oard each spacecraft. The most widely used are power plants with solar cells. However, there exists an alternative power supply concept of u sing a centralized power supply system (CPSS) and power transmission t o the user satellites by laser or microwave beams [1, 2, 3]. Use of a CPSS has a number of advantages, in particular, it allows the spacecra ft increase power supply level and service life as well as decrease th e spacecraft mass and cost. However, it sets new physical and technica l problems associated with long distance power transmission and requir es some changes in spacecraft structure and concepts. The feasibility study of CPSS development and use has to rely on existing or firmly fo recastable technologies. An attempt of such an analysis has been done by a group of scientists at Moscow State Aviation Institute during 199 4-1996. The very first results have been published in [4]. This paper discusses new results obtained lately regarding a space based CPSS.