Aquarius/SAC-D mission: Telemetry data analysis for the first year

Aquarius/SAC-D space mission was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on a Delta II rocket on June 10, 2011. The Solar Array (SA) for this mission has been developed and integrated in the Argentine National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA). It is composed by 2574 Advance Triple Junction (ATJ) solar cells from Emcore, arranged in 24 modules (sets of strings interconnected in parallel). Each module has been simulated using a numerical code developed at CNEA and an estimation of the power generation has been obtained for normalized conditions. In this paper, an analysis of telemetry data (electrical and temperature data) received during the first eleven months of the mission are presented and compared with theoretical simulations. The good agreement observed between telemetry data and simulations allows concluding that the SA is working according to expectations. Moreover, no degradation of the SA electrical characteristics has been seen during the analysed period.