ABSTRACT
This chapter starts with identifying various primary energy sources and their application ranges for generating electrical power for the spacecraft loads and the mission duration. It then provides an overview of different options for a spacecraft power system design. Various energy sources, including primary and secondary batteries, fuel cells, solar photovoltaic, solar concentrator-dynamic, radioisotope thermoelectric, nuclear reactor-dynamic, and chemical-dynamic systems, are presented and compared. Also discussed are the thermo-photovoltaic, solar–thermoelectric, and thermionic systems. The electrical power system bus voltage options available in established heritage designs for a dc-bus based on the spacecraft power level and the overall mission requirements are presented.
