In making investment decisions for spacecraft technology development, it is critical to understand how such advances impact spacecraft budgets such as mass, volume, and power. Beneficial effects on spacecraft budgets translate into improved payload capability and/or reduced spacecraft cost. Reduced cost and improved capability are central goals for the space enterprise, including both military and commercial entities. This work systematically evaluates the effect of increasing solar array performance on spacecraft mass, volume, power, and cost budgets for three assumed missions: low Earth orbit (3 kW), medium Earth orbit (10 kW), and geostationary Earth orbit (20 kW). Solar array metrics used to quantify improved solar array performance are specific power (watts per kilogram), stowed power density (kilowatts per cubic meter), and solar cell efficiency (percent). Changes in solar array metrics are translated into the effect on spacecraft mass, volume, power, and cost budgets for the three assumed missions. Although the results presented are anchored to an assumed mission set with an associated baseline solar array design, the trends are applicable to any mission set and can easily be extended and adjusted based on a different baseline set of solar array design parameters.
Value of Solar Array Technology Advancement
Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets ; 52 , 5 ; 1388-1394
2015-09-07
7 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
Value of Solar Array Technology Advancement
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