This seminar offers an in-depth exploration of the role of power electronics in space applications, focusing on the pioneering work of the Electric Moon team. Comprising students from Ohio State University and researchers from Venturi North America, the team participated in NASA's Watts on the Moon (WOTM) Challenge, a competition aimed at developing innovative energy solutions for lunar missions. The seminar will be organized chronologically, beginning with an introduction to the WOTM challenge, where participants are tasked with creating systems to generate, store, and distribute energy on the Moon. Following this, the seminar will delve into the specific approaches proposed by the Electric Moon team. This includes a detailed discussion of their system architecture, circuit topology, device selection, and evaluation processes, as well as the initial prototyping of a 1.5-kV, 1.5-kW isolated modular multilevel DC/DC converter, which was publicly demonstrated in the first year of the challenge. As the presentation progresses, the focus will shift to the challenges faced during the second year of the competition. These challenges involved redesigning circuits and transformers to withstand extreme operating environments, developing and implementing a robust battery design, and conducting comprehensive system prototyping and final tests. The seminar will conclude with a summary of the lessons learned by the team throughout their journey. This seminar is ideal for graduate students and research engineers who have a foundational understanding of power electronics. It promises to provide valuable insights into the practical aspects of power electronics in one of the most demanding environments imaginable.
