NASA LogoNTRSNTRS - NASA Technical Reports ServerSearchmore_vertCollectionsAboutNewsHelpLogin Back to ResultsSpace Power Heritage Study Final ResultsNASA space missions have long employed Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) and solar-based power generation architectures. RPS have been used to enable or significantly enhance missions that venture deep into the solar system to distances from the sun which can make using solar architectures unfeasible and to areas where the sun is obscured due to shadows or atmospheric phenomena. The destination, however, is not the absolute factor of the determination of RPS or solar. This is highlighted by the Jupiter missions Galileo and Juno, which employed RPS and solar architectures, respectively. When baselining either RPS or solar architectures for a planetary mission, numerous factors must be considered, including scientific objectives, cost, schedule, and mass just to name a few. In an effort to better understand the decision-making process and provide insight for potential future missions, the NASA RPS Program Office tasked The Aerospace Corporation (Aerospace) to study historical missions that used RPS and solar architectures. Data was collected for a variety of RPS and solar missions to look for possible trends from the selected implementation. Additionally, mission case studies were developed based on interviews with mission personnel who were responsible for defining the power architecture of their mission. Informed by the data collected and case studies, two Measures of Effectiveness (MoEs) were produced: one based on cost of RPS versus solar, and one based on science mission cost effectiveness. The final results of this study have been captured in this briefing package which is available for full and open release. Additionally, a final report document also provides the same details of this package. This briefing package also includes an appendix which contains data not for public release which was used to provide detailed answers to questions raised during this study. The results of these inquiries are discussed in the report, but the proprietary data is not included. Finally, an executive summary package is also publicly available which was used to present the results of the study at the 2018 Aerospace Space Power Workshop.Document ID20190001451Acquisition SourceGlenn Research CenterDocument TypeContractor Report (CR)AuthorsHayhurst, Marc R.*(Aerospace Corp. El Segundo, CA, United States)*Bitten, Robert E.*(Aerospace Corp. El Segundo, CA, United States)*Mahr, Eric M.*(Aerospace Corp. El Segundo, CA, United States)*Bilardo, Vincent J., Jr.*(ASRC Aerospace Corp. Cleveland, OH, United States)*Date AcquiredMarch 12, 2019Publication DateFebruary 1, 2019Subject CategorySpacecraft Propulsion And PowerReport/Patent NumberGRC-E-DAA-TN62337NASA/CR-2019-220039ATR-2018-02688Funding Number(s)WBS: WBS 138494.01.99.02CONTRACT_GRANT: NNJ11HB94CDistribution LimitsPublicCopyrightPublic Use Permitted.KeywordsStudySpacePowerAvailable DownloadsNameType20190001451.pdfSTIcloud_downloadcontent_copyvisibilityRelated RecordsThere are no records associated with this record.visibility_offNo Preview Available
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