Thermal management and power packaging for spacecraft of the next millennium

Summary form only given, as follows. Spacecraft power management subsystems have evolved a great deal since the first launch of unmanned spacecraft in the late 1950´s. To take advantage of rapidly emerging technologies in the commercial sector and provide more launch and exploration opportunities, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has implemented a “faster, cheaper, better” philosophy toward the design of space exploration missions. The challenges that this approach to spacecraft design places on the production of electrical power, energy storage and power distribution are discussed in this paper with primary emphasis placed on power distribution and regulation. Technology trends, system tradeoffs, packaging, thermal management and emerging issues associated with “system-on-a-chip” concepts are discussed. Examples of past, current and proposed future NASA space exploration are used to illustrate these aspects of spacecraft for the new millennium