A Mission Oriented Power System For Small Satellite Application

Paper number

IAC-07-C3.2.08

Author

Mr. Gabor Kocsis, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary

Year

2007

Abstract

SSETI (Student Space Exploration and Technology Initiative) was created  by the Education Department of ESA. Its aim is to involve University students in space projects such as building a satellite in an international cooperation. One of the current projects of the SSETI Association is an all-European student satellite called ESEO (European Student Earth Orbiter). The scientific program of ESEO includes radiation measurements, taking photographs of the Earth and testing new components. The ESEO mission is currently entering Phase C: the teams are working on finalizing the documentations and the schematics and start hardware development. At the end of 2008, ESEO will be launched to GTO (Geostationary Transfer Orbit) which is a great challenge for the developers. Despite the quite short, 28 days of mission time, the Radio Amateur community shall continue to use ESEO for a much longer time. Thus, the main systems are supposed to work properly in the extended mission phase as well. 

  One of the core systems of the satellite, the Electrical Power System (EPS) is being developed by a Hungarian student team from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. The EPS team itself is also based on an international cooperation, since it is split between two countries, Hungary and Greece, having a Greek member from the Technological Educational Institute of Heraklion. 

  EPS is a mission oriented power supply system which has to fulfil the specific requirements determined by the orbit and the power budget of the spacecraft. The basic task of the system is to provide electrical power with high efficiency to each system and payload on board the satellite. Furthermore, the system must guarantee high reliability not only during the nominal mission time but during the extended mission period too. In order to achieve these goals, the Electrical Power System consists of self-developed units, such as high efficiency power converters, wakeup circuit, battery monitoring unit, high-reliability FPGAs, etc. Reliability is also ensured by providing a single point failure free design.

  This paper introduces the design rules and describes the main units of the Electrical Power System of the ESEO spacecraft. Furthermore, it gives a brief review about the current situation of the EPS team and sketches the future tasks of the team and the project itself.

Abstract document

IAC-07-C3.2.08.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-07-C3.2.08.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.