Exploring simplified, reliable, maintainable power systems for Space Station Freedom

The author describes a conceptual design study whose principal purpose was to demonstrate that the design, operating, and maintenance philosophies developed in the industrial and commercial power systems environment are far more appropriate to a quasi-permanent, maintainable, multipurpose facility such as the Space Station Freedom than the principles NASA has traditionally applied to one-shot space missions. In the study, a concept for the space station power system which promises essentially the same performance as the NASA-developed baseline design while reducing weight, volume, losses, maintenance, and logistical requirements was developed. It was also shown that the blind application of design ground rules supposedly intended to ensure high reliability and availability can actually have the opposite effect