EDDA Project which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research & Innovation Programme has recently achieved its Progress Review with its Project Officer (representative on behalf of European Commission).
EDDA – European Direct-Drive Architecture – ambitions to bring space electric propulsion close to perfection in supplying power to electric thruster directly from solar arrays without power converters. Expected benefits are : mass and volume savings (removal of power converters), efficiency increase, thermal dissipation and costs reduction.
Since project kick-off in December 2019 and in spite of Covid-19 crisis outbreak, EDDA’s technical work underwent no delays. EDDA’s first achievements notably include :
- System requirements definition based on state-of-the-art and following space missions envisaged for direct drive electric propulsion namely :telecommunication satellites, interplanetary carriers, On-orbit servicing…
- Successful definition of electrical architectures that are compatible with abovementioned system requirements
- Mock-up system specifications to drive both Hall Effect Thruster & High Efficiency Multistage Plasma Thruster
- Preparation of the test plan to evaluate mock-up performances and overall practical feasibility
- Definition of power and control electronics for bus regulation and thruster control