MPBUS · Modular Power BUS for space vehicles

The rapid growth of the private satellite launchers sector is leading the space race. With the privatization of the sector all of the companies are racing for a more efficient and reliant way to set satellites in orbit. In space terms, efficient usually means weight saving which is the main objective that this project addresses. Weight saving will not only mean reducing the cost per Kilogram on each launch, but it will open a whole new range of possible missions with current or future, next generation launch vehicles.Having detected the current needs for power management in the Launcher vehicle industry, the MPBUS project is proposed as a technology to revolutionize power management in current and future Launcher Vehicles.The MPBUS Project is committed to develop a new power bus architecture combining ejectable batteries with the main bus through intelligent nodes. These nodes are able to communicate between them and a battery controller using an improved, data over DC line technology, expected to reduce the total weight in 2 main areas: improving the use of the batteries and reducing the total weight due to harness.The consortium is formed by two Spain SMEs, one Israel SME, and one Belgium Research Center, all of the participants have previous experience in participation in RTD European projects.Different stakeholders are involved representing various space or high-tech related sectors: aerospace electronic control system developer (NASP), engineering (JMP Ingenieros), hardware space qualification (ULG_CSL), multiplex communication networks (YAMAR).Taking into consideration the industrial dimension of the MPBUS project, specific taks will be developed for results exploitation taking into consideration the specific impact for each participant enlisted in exploitation section.