August 24, 2006

Katherine K. Martin
Media Relations Office
216-433-2406
katherine.martin@grc.nasa.gov

RELEASE: 06-046

NASA GLENN POWER MANAGEMENT EXPERTISE PLAYS ROLE IN

UPCOMING SPACE SHUTTLE STS-115 MISSION

NASA will resume construction of the International Space Station

during the next space shuttle mission, designated STS-115. Shuttle
Atlantis is scheduled to lift off the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy
Space Center, Fla., at 4:30 p.m. EDT Sunday, August 27. Astronauts
will install a girder-like structure, known as the P3/P4 truss
segment that will double the station's power capability.

The 35,000-pound segment is comprised mainly of solar cell arrays,

batteries and power conditioning equipment. These were developed with
expertise provided by NASA's Glenn Research Center, Cleveland.

In partnership with NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Glenn's

Electric Power System Management Team continues its responsibility
for end to end technical oversight of station's power capability.
"The P3/P4 provides station the capability to collect, store,
generate, distribute and regulate power," said Thomas Kerslake,
electrical power system engineer at Glenn.

In the 1980's, Glenn managed contractor efforts that led to

development of technologies to efficiently convert solar energy to
electric power. Large numbers of solar cells are assembled into
arrays to produce high power levels from the sun. "Glenn-led research
and technology enabled the cost-effective, mass production of these
large-area, highly efficient solar cells," said Jeff Hojnicki, lead
power systems analyst at Glenn.

Since a spacecraft orbiting the Earth is not always in sunlight,

energy has to be stored. Rechargeable batteries that could operate in
space were also developed under Glenn's guidance. These batteries
store power to provide a continuous source of electricity while the
spacecraft is in the Earth's shadow. All 12 nickel hydrogen batteries
to be flown on STS-115 were replaced, based on recommendations made
by a Glenn-led team.

Currently on station, and essential to station's power system, the

plasma contactor cathode, or grounding rod for the system, was also
developed under Glenn management.
Glenn has also been directly involved in the following crucial
portions of the STS-115 mission:

Flight certification analysis of the station's power system to

determine it ready to support STS-115.

Development and implementation of special procedures for boost

charging and rebalancing batteries on the launch pad before launch.

Sequential shunt units, battery charge-discharge units, circuit

isolation devices and radiators, all essential parts of P3/P4.

Additionally, the Materials International Space Station Experiment,

MISSE 5, and the Forward Technology Solar Cell Experiment, will be
returning to Earth onboard STS-115. These experiments will eventually
be returned to Glenn for further analysis. Glenn also designed and
built the electronics and wrote the software that will measure the
solar cell performance on MISSE 5.

For more information on Glenn's contributions to the International

Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/projects/issgrc.html

For more information on MISSE, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/MISSE_PEACE_Feature.html

For more information on STS-115, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

-end-