Lead:
Dr. Henry Brandhorst
Purpose and Goals:
Design, develop and operate, on ground and in space, a newly
developed, lightweight, high efficiency solar array. Tests would
confirm its durability, efficiency and ease of deployment.
Strongly supports the Exploration Initiative as well as other
NASA missions.
Description:
SLA Performance 2 m 2 SLA Demonstrator Array.
The stretched lens solar array consists of a linear Fresnel
concentrator (8x) lens made from DC93- 500 silicone rubber, high
efficiency triple junction solar cells bonded to a graphite
composite radiator. A variant of this design, called POWOW, can
lead to multimegawatt spacecraft. A 2 m 2 demonstrator array has
been built and has a specific power of 98 W/ kg and produces
over 640 W. At a 7 kW size, specific power reaches 180 W/ kg.
Research efforts are examining the use of POSSŪ materials that
may protect the lens from AO and VUV radiation.
Major industrial
partners:
ENTECH, Inc.
Other partners:
Able Engineering, Co.
