June 7, 2007

Katherine K. Martin
Media Relations Office
216-433-2406
katherine.k.martin@nasa.gov

RELEASE: 07-019

GLENN GUIDES ELECTRICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR SPACE VEHICLES

Cleveland -- As the only research laboratory orbiting the Earth, the

International Space Station is a work in progress, with constantly
changing amounts and kinds of electrical power supply and demands.

These challenging tasks rely on expert advice from a team at NASA's

Glenn Research Center called the System Power Analysis for Capability
Evaluation (SPACE) Team.

SPACE also is the name of the software code developed by the team that
predicts the maximum power level that the space station power system
can sustain throughout a variety of conditions. The code was
developed in the late 1980s to support the design of the precursor to
the International Space Station (ISS), Space Station Freedom. Since
then, dozens of engineers have contributed to its enhancement, which
includes mathematical models of the solar arrays, batteries and power
management and distribution equipment. Utilizing this code, the SPACE
Team provides analyses that are required to certify space shuttle
flight readiness.

The most pressing challenge addressed by the team involves the next
shuttle mission, STS-117, during which a fifth and sixth set of solar
arrays and batteries, or power channels, will be installed on the
station. These new power channels, also called truss segments S3/S4,
will become a part of station's electric power system, which was
designed under Glenn's guidance in the 1990s. S3/S4 will be added to
station's 11-segment integrated truss structure, the space station's
backbone, and will provide one-fourth of the total power generation
for the completed International Space Station.

Of the four channels already on the station, three are active and one
is temporarily not in use, or dormant. The two new power channels
added during STS-117 will require retracting a second solar array for
the channels to track the sun. Additionally, two of the active
channels must constantly send power to the dormant channels to
prevent them from freezing or getting too hot.

To enable STS-117's mission to be successful, Glenn's SPACE Team

advised NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, that the dormant
channels temporarily receive less power and that loads normally
shared among two power channels be fed by the more capable power
channel.

The team also assessed the station's electric power system performance
for joint operations when Atlantis is docked with the station during
the STS-117 mission. This includes launch, power channel startup and
deployment of solar arrays. With this complicated sequence of events,
the station's power system will be transformed from three power
channels to four with one channel going dormant and two new channels
being used.

Later this year, the SPACE Team will continue its involvement with
space electric power needs with the first docking of the European
Space Agency's (ESA) Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to station. The
team's analyses will confirm whether the docking can be performed
without depleting energy provided by station's batteries. The ATV
will bring up supplies, re-boost the station, undock and burn up in
the atmosphere six months later with trash from station.

A complex procedure, the ATV analysis takes into account how much
solar power the station's arrays capture, including shadowing of the
arrays by other parts of the station, vehicle attitude and the
behavior of batteries, considering their age and capability, that
store energy from the solar arrays.

An analysis is particularly needed because the ATV docking lasts five

orbits, or about seven and a half hours. In this period of time, the
solar arrays must be positioned to avoid damage from the ATV's
thrusters and interference with communication antennas that guide the
ATV. Because of these restrictions, the arrays cannot continuously
track the sun, resulting in reduced power generation.

Detailed estimates of power availability during critical portions of

the ATV flight are provided to Johnson Space Center, the European
Space Agency, the Russian Federal Space Agency and NASA's other
partners. This information is used to determine if expected
electrical load distribution within station can be supported during
ATV docking operations. If the analysis determines there is a
shortfall in power needed, changes are made to the choreography of
the docking sequence. Another energy balance analysis is then
performed, with the result of a docking timeline that balances
station's power needs with operational constraints needed for safe
and successful ATV docking.

For more information about STS-117, Atlantis' next mission to the

International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

For more information about ATV, visit:

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ATV/ESAE021VMOC_0.html

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