Spacecraft Energy Storage Systems

Flywheel Energy Storage Systems represent an exciting alternative to traditional battery storage systems used to power satellites during periods of eclipse. The increasing demand for reliable communication and data access is driving explosive growth in the number of satellite systems being developed as well as their performance requirements. Power on orbit is the key to this performance, and batteries are becoming increasingly unattractive as an energy storage media. Flywheel systems offer very attractive characteristics for both energy storage in terms of energy density and the number of charge/discharge cycles, together with the important side benefit of spacecraft attitude control