An Overview of Space Power Systems for NASA Missions

Power is a critical commodity for all engineering efforts a nd is especially challenging in the aerospace field. This paper will provide a broad brush overview of some of the immediate and important challenges to NASA missions in the field of aerospace power – for generation, energy conversion, distribution, and s torage. NASA’s newest vehicles which are currently in the design phase will have power systems that will be developed from current technology, but will have the challenges of being light -weight, energy -efficient, and space -qualified. Future lunar and Mar s “outposts” will need high power generation units for life support and energy -intensive exploration efforts. An overview of the progress in concepts for power systems and the status of the required technologies are discussed.