System engineering approach toward the problem of battery depth-of-discharge of a LEO satellite

During the last few decades, battery Depth-of-Discharge (DoD) problem has always been a challenging and limiting factor on satellite-mission duration. This paper, from a system engineering point of view, comprehensively describes the power-hungry phases of a typical Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite mission. Theses phases, each by itself or in any combination(s), may lead to high DoD levels (mainly during the eclipse phase), which will in turn shorten the mission-life, considerably. To handle the challenge most efficiently, the engineering community has developed three methodologies as: