Parametric investigation of solar panel hypervelocity impact damage Original Research Article

Individual hypervelocity impacts on satellite solar panel surfaces generally pose less of a threat to critical system functioning than impacts on critical components located on the satellite body. However, accumulation of impacts over the large surface area of the solar panels leads, in some cases, to a degradation of efficiency. Since this degradation depends both on the number of impacts and the extent of the individual localized damage, we have conducted a suite of calculations designed to understand the dependence of localized surface damage on mass and velocity of the impactor. The calculations varied mass (10−12 to 10−3 g) and velocity (1 to 12 km/s) to reveal a distinct threshold for penetration damage. In addition, the effect of including voids in the impactor material was considered. The solar panel was modeled, using the CTH hydrocode, as three layers -- glass, silicon and aluminum. CTH is designed to treat a wide range of shock wave propagation and material motion phenomena. Physically based numerical models are relied on due to the limited laboratory data available over the mass and velocity range covered. This paper presents and analyzes more than 40 calculations; most are 2D, but some are 3D.