Solar Generator Designs for Missions Toward the Sun Surviving up to 22 Solar Constants

The European Space Agency (ESA) has several scientific missions planned to the inner planets and towards the Sun. Under supervision from ESA, EADS Astrium GmbH has developed the solar array (SA) for the Venus Express mission (arrived at Venus on April 11th, 2006) and is developing the next generation of high temperature SA´s (up to 320degC). These SA´s shall serve the BepiColombo mission to Mercury (14.5 kW/m² plus 6.2 kW/m² IR) and the Solar Orbiter mission (max. 29.8 kW/m²). The paper will present details of the VEX and BepiColombo/SOLO solar array designs, identifies the key design drivers, trades and solutions for the development of a solar array for high temperature applications