Improved techniques for predicting spacecraft powerRadioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) are going to supply power for the NASA Galileo and Ulysses spacecraft now scheduled to be launched in 1989 and 1990. The duration of the Galileo mission is expected to be over 8 years. This brings the total RTG lifetime to 13 years. In 13 years, the RTG power drops more than 20 percent leaving a very small power margin over what is consumed by the spacecraft. Thus it is very important to accurately predict the RTG performance and be able to assess the magnitude of errors involved. The paper lists all the error sources involved in the RTG power predictions and describes a statistical method for calculating the tolerance.
Document ID
19880024609
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Chmielewski, A. B. (California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, United States)