Development of an Automated Electrical Power Subsystem Testbed for Large Spacecraft

NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has developed two autonomous electrical power system breadboards. The first breadboard, the Autonomously Managed Power System (AMPS), is a two power channel system featuring energy generation and, storage and 24-kW of switchable loads all under computer control. The second breadboard, the Space Station Module/Power Management and Distribution (SSM/PMAD) testbed, is a two-bus 120-Vdc model of the space station power subsystem featuring "smart" switchgear and multiple knowledge-based control systems. NASA/MSFC is combining these two breadboards to form a complete autonomous source-to-load power system called the Large Autonomous Spacecraft Electrical Power system (LASEPS). This paper will describe the two individual systems, the combined systems (hardware and software), and the current and future uses of LASEPS.