Aerospace High Voltage Development

High voltage has been used for electrical power system generation, transmission, and distribution for over 75 years and manufacturers have been designing x-rays, radios/television transmitters and receivers for many years with excellent success. High voltage usage in aerospace equipment initiated during World War II with the advent of high power communications and radar for airplanes. About 20 years ago the first high voltage components were built for spacecraft systems. This article is to provide some insight into the status of high voltage for aerospace equipment and the differences between terrestial and aerospace system functions and the attendant problems. What are the basic differences between terrestial/commercial and aerospace equipment? The aerospace environment is defined as that significantly above the Earth's surface: From 5000 feet altitude to deep space. The basic differences are the constraints placed on the user vehicle (airplane, missile, or spacecraft). Constraints include: Atmospheric pressure, temperature, lifting capability, electronic requirements, and volume. Early airplanes needed only radios and mechanical pressurization instruments. Today's sophisticted airplanes require transmitters, receivers, controls, displays, and in the military case, special electronics. The addition of electronic devices has increased the electrical power demand from a few watts (for early aircraft) to well over one megawatt for special applications. There is the need for compact packaging to reduce weight and volume. Spacecraft with booster limitations are ever more restrictive of weight and volume then airplanes while they must maintain complete electrical system integrity for mission durations of several months to years.     

Multiple Sun–Earth Saddle Point flybys for LISA Pathfinder

LISA Pathfinder is an ESA mission due to be launched in the next two years. The gravity gradiometer onboard has the sensitivity required to test predictions by gravitational theories proposed as alternatives to Dark Matter such as TeVeS. Within the Solar System measurable effects are predicted only in the vicinity of gravitational saddle points (SP). For this reason it has been proposed to fly LPF by the Earth–Sun SP, at some 259,000 km from Earth. This could be done in an extension to the nominal mission which uses a Lissajous orbit about the Earth–Sun L1 point. The responsibility for LPF mission design lies with ESA/ESOC, who have designed the transfer trajectories, orbits about L1, and station keeping strategies. This article describes an analysis performed by Astrium to support a suggestion for a possible mission extension to a saddle point crossing. With only very limited fuel availability, reaching the saddle point is a significant challenge. In this article, we present recent advances in the work on trajectory design. It is demonstrated that reaching the SP is feasible once the LPF mission is completed. Furthermore, in a significant enhancement, it is demonstrated that trajectories including more than one SP flyby are possible, thus improving the science return for this proposed mission extension.