Though electric power and actuation systems are commonly used across many aerospace applications, launch vehicle applications requiring high horsepower have not historically employed these technologies. Typically, systems for large launch vehicles have been powered with blowdown, turbomachinery, and/or centralized systems. More recently electric technologies, as well as the associated components and systems, have made considerable progress and are now viable alternatives for high power system applications, carrying high TRLs. Electric based power systems embrace the type of evolutionary change that NASA and commercial launch vehicle producers are demanding. They can support several areas of improvement, including but not limited to: 1. Facilitating a platform architecture approach; 2. Providing a modular system of building blocks that increase production quantities of common components which yield savings in recurring costs as well as non-recurring development; 3. Allowing for various interfaces, which can support multiple forms of power demand (e.g. electric, hydraulic, etc); 4. Incorporating components that are simpler than heritage systems to integrate at the next level, subsequently providing further vehicle development and recurring product cost savings, as well as providing component line replace-ability; 5. Offering increased system reliability, and minimizing safety hazards, as well as providing significant packaging improvements and mass savings over heritage system solutions. This paper will discuss the development of modular electric power and actuation solutions that are extensible across launch vehicle stages; resulting in systems which are less complex, more reliable, offer increased power density and are more scalable. These systems are also less expensive to develop, produce, and integrate as compared to many of today's central hydraulic power system architectures which are powered by volatile and potentially hazardous fuels under high pressure. The discussion will focus on: System trade-offs and architecture concept development, applicability and extensibility ranges, and performance analysis modeling and test results.
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