Abstract With the exception of passive reflectors such as the Echo 1 mylar balloon (used as a communications relay prior to the development of active transponders) and ‘mirrorball’ laser-reflecting satellites like LAGEOS for geophysical studies, spacecraft tend to be full of electrical systems. In fact, even passive satellites require electrical systems to ensure their correct deployment. Electrical systems, of course. also need power. When a modern electronic system such as a calculator or a cordless telephone fails, it usually fails in its power system. A single short or open circuit in the power source can render an entire system completely dead, whereas a single-point failure elsewhere may only degrade it. On 8 April 1966 an Atlas Agena-D deployed NASA’s first Orbiting Astronomical Observatory to open a new ultraviolet ‘window on the sky’, but two days into its startup routine it suffered high-voltage arcing in its star trackers and was crippled by the failure of its power supply, depleting the battery.1 The Seasat satellite, which was integrated into an Agena upper stage, demonstrated synthetic-aperture radar imaging from orbit in 1978.
Electrical failures
01.01.2005
38 pages
Aufsatz/Kapitel (Buch)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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