COSMO-SkyMed Electrical Power System in flight performances

The COSMO-SkyMed constellation consists of four orbiting satellites each carrying an X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The COSMO-SkyMed system is a program managed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and co-financed by ASI and the Italian Minister of Defence. This paper presents the Electrical Power System (EPS) design, with particular focus on the architecture adopted to optimise the battery intervention during peak loads demand in sunlight. Then, the paper presents flight telemetries regarding the PFM LEOP and Commissioning phases demonstrating the effectiveness of the design, considering the high repetitive pulsed energy of 52KJ, corresponding to 13KW peak power, required by the SAR antenna. Two flight models (the Protoflight, or PFM, and the second one, or FM#2) are now in orbit, respectively from June and December 2007.