Title :
The ASGA experiment on EURECA platform: testing of advanced GaAs solar cells in LEO
Author :
Bertotti, L. ; Flores, C. ; Garner, J. ; Paletta, F. ; Wharf, J.
Abstract :
The authors describe the problems faced in designing, manufacturing, and testing flight hardware and, in particular, in fabricating and testing concentrator and 100 mu m thick GaAs solar cells. The Advanced Solar GaAs Array (ASGA) experiment is designed to evaluate gallium arsenide solar cells and concentrator optics in space. It will be flown on the EUropean REtrievable CArrier (EURECA) for six months. The experiment configuration is defined on the basis of the EURECA mission analysis (orbit condition, natural environment) and includes solar cells of different types, with different junction depths and different thicknesses. The experiment also includes a concentrator solar array which is designed to be representative of a section of a full-size spacecraft array.
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; gallium arsenide; solar cell arrays; solar cells; space vehicle power plants; testing; 100 micron; ASGA; Advanced Solar GaAs Array; EURECA; EUropean REtrievable CArrier; LEO; advanced GaAs solar cells; concentrator optics; low Earth orbit; natural environment; orbit condition; semiconductor; space vehicle power plants; testing; Aerospace testing; Collaboration; Gallium arsenide; Hardware; Low earth orbit satellites; Manufacturing; Optical arrays; Optical design; Payloads; Photovoltaic cells; Pulp manufacturing; Space shuttles; Space technology; Space vehicles; Testing;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1988., Conference Record of the Twentieth IEEE
Conference_Location :
Las Vegas, NV, USA
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.1988.105855
