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Life with a weak Heart; Prolonging the Grace Mission despite degraded Batteries

Herman, Jacobus und Davis , A und Chin , K.B. und Kinzler, M und Scholz, Sina und Steinhoff, Michael (2012) Life with a weak Heart; Prolonging the Grace Mission despite degraded Batteries. 12th International Conference on Space Operations (SpaceOps 2012), 2012-06-11 - 2012-06-15, Stockhom, Schweden.

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Kurzfassung

The two Grace satellites were successfully launched on March 17, 2002 by a Russian Rockot launcher. GRACE not only was the first dual-satellite mission operated by GSOC, but it also was the first formation-flying occurring at an altitude below 500 km. The mission is extremely successful from a scientific point of view and the originally envisaged mission duration of 5 years has more than doubled by now. A follow-on mission is planned by the same partners for 2016 and JPL projects a new generation in the twenties, so there is a strong incentive to prolong GRACE and try to bridge the gap. Infirmity comes with age and several components have deteriorated or are defunct. Nevertheless, the scientific goals can still be obtained to nigh on 100%. The major challenge for operations is posed by the degradation of the NiH2 batteries. These are comprised of 20 cells packaged in the common pressure vessel (CPV) configuration. However, two cells have shorted out on Grace 1 and one on Grace 2. The available capacity of the operational cells is also severely degraded. The current operational capacity of the batteries is limited to ≤ 3 Ah as compared to the original nameplate capacity of 16 Ah. This paper describes the special operations needed to prolong the mission despite the considerable power constraints. The first Section gives a general overview with emphasis on the components relevant to this paper. The battery, its current state and the mission specific circumstances which require special handling are described in Section 2. The several threats to and failure mechanisms of NiH2 batteries are also presented here. The third Section then contains a detailed description of all measures taken to pamper the batteries. This includes heater and parameter settings, special on-board macros, orbit-to-orbit charge regulation, but also physical actions such as turning the satellites away from the Sun to force battery discharging and subsequent charging. The fourth Section, finally, presents conclusions, recommendations and an estimation of how long the Grace mission can be prolonged.

elib-URL des Eintrags:https://elib.dlr.de/76288/
Dokumentart:Konferenzbeitrag (Paper)
Titel:Life with a weak Heart; Prolonging the Grace Mission despite degraded Batteries
Autoren:
AutorenInstitution oder E-Mail-AdresseAutoren-ORCID-iDORCID Put Code
Herman, JacobusJaap.Herman (at) dlr.deNICHT SPEZIFIZIERTNICHT SPEZIFIZIERT
Davis , A CSRNICHT SPEZIFIZIERTNICHT SPEZIFIZIERT
Chin , K.B. JPLNICHT SPEZIFIZIERTNICHT SPEZIFIZIERT
Kinzler, MEADSNICHT SPEZIFIZIERTNICHT SPEZIFIZIERT
Scholz, SinaSina.Scholz (at) dlr.deNICHT SPEZIFIZIERTNICHT SPEZIFIZIERT
Steinhoff, MichaelMichael.Steinhoff (at) dlr.deNICHT SPEZIFIZIERTNICHT SPEZIFIZIERT
Datum:Juni 2012
Open Access:Ja
Gold Open Access:Nein
In SCOPUS:Nein
In ISI Web of Science:Nein
Status:veröffentlicht
Stichwörter:GRACE Mission
Veranstaltungstitel:12th International Conference on Space Operations (SpaceOps 2012)
Veranstaltungsort:Stockhom, Schweden
Veranstaltungsart:internationale Konferenz
Veranstaltungsbeginn:11 Juni 2012
Veranstaltungsende:15 Juni 2012
Veranstalter :DLR / SSC
HGF - Forschungsbereich:Luftfahrt, Raumfahrt und Verkehr
HGF - Programm:Raumfahrt
HGF - Programmthema:Erdbeobachtung
DLR - Schwerpunkt:Raumfahrt
DLR - Forschungsgebiet:R EO - Erdbeobachtung
DLR - Teilgebiet (Projekt, Vorhaben):R - Projekt GRACE (alt)
Standort: Oberpfaffenhofen
Institute & Einrichtungen:Raumflugbetrieb und Astronautentraining
Hinterlegt von: Geisau, Juliane
Hinterlegt am:16 Jul 2012 10:49
Letzte Änderung:24 Apr 2024 19:42

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