INTEGRATED POWER AND ATTITUDE CONTROL SYSTEM FOR THE SPACE STATION AND OTHER APPLICATIONS

INTEGRATED POWER AND ATTITUDE CONTROL SYSTEM (IPACS) STUDIESPERFORMED OVER A DECADE AGO ESTABLISHED THE FEASIBILITY OF SIMULTANEOUSLY STORING ELECTRICAL ENERGY IN WHEELS UTILIZINGTHE RESULTING MOMENTUM FOR SPACECRAFT ATTITUDE CONTROL. IT WAS SHOWN THAT SUCH A SYSTEM POSSESSED MANY ADVANTAGES OVER OTHER CONTEMPORARY ENERGY STORAGE AND ATTITUDE CONTROL SYSTEMS IN MANY APPLICATIONS. MORE RECENT TECHNOLOGY ADVANTAGES IN COMPOSITE ROTORS, MAGNETIC BEARINGS, AND POWERCONTROL ELECTRONICS HAVE TRIGGERED NEW OPTIMISM REGARDING THE FEASIBILITY AND MERITS OF SUCH A SYSTEM. THE FOCUS OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO DEFINE AN ADVANCED IPACS AND TO EVALUATE ITS MERITS FOR THE NASA SPACE STATION AND OTHER APPLICATIONS. A SYSTEM AND COMPONENT DESIGN CONCEPT WILL BE DEVELOPED TO ESTABLISH THE SYSTEM FEASIBILITY AND PERFORMANCE CAPABILITY. A SYSTEM-LEVEL TRADE STUDY, INCLUDING LIFE-CYCLE COSTING, WILL BE PERFORMED TO DEFINE THE MERITS OF THE SYSTEM RELATIVE TO TWO OTHER CANDIDATE SYSTEMS. PROTOTYPE HARDWARE DEMONSTRATING KEY TECHNICAL ISSUES WILL BE DEVELOPED AND TESTED AS A PHASE II EFFORT.