New attitude to energy storage

By the summer of 2007, an AFRL team of scientists at Kirtland Air Force Base (AFB), New Mexico, intends to demonstrate a technology that combines satellite attitude control and energy storage.

For decades, engineers have employed flywheels as spacecraft positioning devices but, until recently, they have not given flywheels serious consideration for spacecraft power generation.

The successful demonstration of the Flywheel Attitude Control, Energy Transmission, and Storage (FACETS) system—which employs three flywheels, each spinning between 16,000 and 40,000rpm—could change that perspective.

Dr Jerry Fausz, FACETS program manager, said, ‘I’m definitely looking forward to demonstrating the combined energy storage and attitude control capability of FACETS and showing the feasibility of something that has never been done before.’

The FACETS program genesis dates back to the late 1980s’ Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), also known as the Star Wars program. As part of the SDI’s space-based laser concept, AFRL scientists developed the Advanced Structures Experiment (ASTREX) spacecraft structural simulator to test the dynamics and control of large space structures. At the conclusion of the SDI test program, they moved the ASTREX structure to Kirtland AFB, where it has since become integral to the FACETS system demonstration.