Session
Technical Session II: Small Satellites - Subsystems
Abstract
NASA's Small Astronomy Satellites were designed and developed by The Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory for use in the early 1970's. They were Scout launched, spin stabilized satellites intended for a near equatorial, 550 Km, circular orbit. Since the spacecraft were designed so that their spin axis could be pointed in any direction in inertial space, an omnidirectional solar cell array was required. An additional significant constraint on the solar cell array design was that the effect of atmospheric drag on the spacecraft stabilization had to be minimized. These requirements led to the need for an electronic battery charge control system with a wide dynamic range. The final design incorporated a moveable solar cell array with periodic control and a charge control system capable of accommodating large array and load power variations with low internal power dissipation. The final power system design was intended to accommodate any small, spin stabilized spacecraft. Analyses and resulting hardware are described for the solar cell array and power system.
The Small Astronomy Satellite (SAS) Power Systems
NASA's Small Astronomy Satellites were designed and developed by The Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory for use in the early 1970's. They were Scout launched, spin stabilized satellites intended for a near equatorial, 550 Km, circular orbit. Since the spacecraft were designed so that their spin axis could be pointed in any direction in inertial space, an omnidirectional solar cell array was required. An additional significant constraint on the solar cell array design was that the effect of atmospheric drag on the spacecraft stabilization had to be minimized. These requirements led to the need for an electronic battery charge control system with a wide dynamic range. The final design incorporated a moveable solar cell array with periodic control and a charge control system capable of accommodating large array and load power variations with low internal power dissipation. The final power system design was intended to accommodate any small, spin stabilized spacecraft. Analyses and resulting hardware are described for the solar cell array and power system.
