Development of a 3.2m-long Inflatable and Rigidizable Solar Array Breadboard

Abstract

The interest of using thin film solar cells for space solar arrays for both Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites is today clearly identified (high power/mass ratio, low costs etc.). Thanks to the continuously increasing performances of these thin film solar cells (CI(G)S or a-Si:H) and to their demonstrated good resistance to space environment; their use can be definitely foreseen for space power generation even if a significant effort is still to be performed to validate this technology. But to take advantage of these characteristics, the implementation of a flexible blanket is required and new concepts of low mass deployable support structures have to be developed. In order to enhance European technologies in that field, European Space Agency (ESA) initiated a Technology Research Programme (TRP) called “Structural Design of Advanced Solar Array” (ESTEC/Contract N° 16717/03/NL/CH), which main objective is to demonstrate the feasibility of a small size, deployable solar array, by dedicated and representative breadboarding / demonstration activities. The paper gives an overview of the one year and a half ESA TRP awarded to the industrial team lead by EADS SPACE Transportation (design, manufacturing, tests and management) and including IDEAMECH (structural analysis), MCB Consultants (expertise in Gossamer technologies) and VHF Technologies (thin film solar cells). After a paper study of a full-scale solar array showing very promising results in terms of mass, packaging and manufacturing costs, an Inflatable and Rigidizable Solar Array Breadboard was developed and intensively tested. Numerous tests were performed on this breadboard: packaging, ascent venting tests, deployment tests, rigidization process test, mechanical characterization and electrical tests. The testing campaign was a complete success.