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Introduction
This study focuses on how to satisfy space-based power requirements
of the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO). (Appendix
A is a glossary of abbreviations used in this report.) The initial
charge for this study included these tasks:
~ Evaluate the planning for the development of advanced space-
based high-power technologies to determine the best combination of
technology options that should be pursued.
. Critique current Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) power de-
velopment plans and objectives.
~ Identify an alternate power program plan that would meet
SDI requirements for space-based power.
Identify technology development approaches that could lead
to enabling power system capabilities for future space-based defensive
systems.
To examine the relevant but less demanding power needs of other U.S.
space missions, the scope of the study was subsequently broadened
to include consideration of military space power requirements other
than those of SDIO, and of potential civil space power requirements,
especially those of NASA, where power will be needed for earth-
orbital, interplanetary, and lunar-surface missions.
In forming the Committee on Advanced Space Based High Power
6
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INTROD UCTION
Technologies to conduct this study, the areas of expertise sought
included nuclear, chemical, and solar energy conversion systems;
space environment; materials science; thermal management; power
conditioning and control systems; rotating machinery; puIsed-power
generation; and system safety. Biographical sketches of the members
of this committee are contained in Appendix B.
The committee has had access to classified briefings and publica-
tions to provide it with adequate insights regarding activities relevant
to the SDI power program and to this study. However, there is no
classified information in this report.
The study chronology Is summarized in Appendix C. The com-
mittee devoted particular attention to briefings and information sup-
plied by the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG), a pane] of experts
under the leadership of R. Joseph Sovie, NASA I,ewis Research Cen-
ter. The lEG was established by the SDIO Power Program Office
to provide it with analyses and counsel regarding its programmatic
activities.
The committee held a meeting in Albuquerque designed to gather
up-to-date information from the lEG's Field Support Team centered
at Sandia National Laboratories. That team provides the lEG with
technical analyses of the ongoing power system architecture studies,
and includes personnel from NASA/Lewis Research Center, Sandia
National Laboratories, and the U.S. Air Force Space Technology
Center.
At the outset of the study, the SDIO Power Program Office made
available to the committee a number of reports (listed in the Refer-
ences) summarizing the results of contractor-performed studies of a
variety of power-generating systems. Because of the ongoing nature
of these studies, and recognizing certain shifting SDIO priorities, the
committee was briefed on current SDIO thinking in October 1987
and January 1988. Military needs for space-based power for non-SD]
applications were described by Air Force and Army representatives.
The committee also obtained presentations relevant to projected
NASA space power needs from Raymond S. ColIaday, then NASA
Associate Administrator for Aeronautics and Space Technology, and
J. Stuart Fordyce, Director of Aerospace Technology at NASA Lewis
Research Center.
The committee sought to keep abreast of relevant activities and
progress in a variety of technical fields, through the contacts, ex-
pertise, and efforts of its members. For example, the committee
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8
ADVANCED POWER SOURCES FOR SPACE MISSIONS
examined implications to space power of recent research on high-
temperature superconducting materials, of progress in defining the
NASA Space Station, and of the growing interest in returning to the
lunar surface. The committee also took the initiative of reviewing
the status and potential of a system that would provide power to
space vehicles by beaming electromagnetic energy to orbit from the
earth's surface.
A forerunner to this study, with emphasis on space nuclear
power, was conducted by the Committee on Advanced Nuclear Sys-
tems of the National Research Council, under the chairmanship of
John M. Deutch. That study led to the report "Advanced Nuclear
Systems for Portable Power in Spacer (National Research Council
1983~.
In the following chapters of this report, the committee discusses
much of the information it acquired, with emphasis on those ele-
ments it believes provide a basis for its findings, conclusions, and
recommendations. Chapter 2 summarizes the broad space power re-
quirements of SDI, other military missions, and civil missions. It also
examines approaches to selecting space power technologies to satisfy
SDI requirements. Chapter 3 examines available space power system
options and some important safety and environmental constraints in-
fluencing their selection. Chapter 4 covers the kinds of technological
advances needed to meet SDI requirements, and Chapter 5 suggests
approaches toward achieving such advances. Chapter 6 examines the
current SDI space power R&D program and provides suggestions on
how to facilitate its achieving SDI requirements.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
power requirements
