IGF::OT::IGF DSS PROPOSES TO SYSTEMATICALLY MATURE, MITIGATE RISK FOR; AND PERFORM HARDWARE-BASED GROUND VA…

Public award description

IGF::OT::IGF DSS PROPOSES TO SYSTEMATICALLY MATURE, MITIGATE RISK FOR; AND PERFORM HARDWARE-BASED GROUND VALIDATIONS / DEMONSTRATIONS OF A LOW-COST, HIGH TECHNOLOGY PAYOFF, ISS-BASED FLIGHT EXPERIMENT THAT WILL ALLOW KEY RELEVANT SPACE-FLIGHT ENVIRONMENTAL VALIDATION OF OUR INNOVATIVE ROLL-OUT SOLAR ARRAY (ROSA) TECHNOLOGY. THE ROSA FLEX-BLANKET SOLAR ARRAY TECHNOLOGY PROVIDES GAME-CHANGING AFFORDABILITY AND PERFORMANCE, AND DELIVERS A PERFORMANCE PARADIGM SHIFT IN TERMS OF: SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER COST, GREATER SPECIFIC POWER, MORE COMPACT STOWAGE VOLUME, HIGHER STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE, LESS COMPLEXITY, AND MORE MODULARITY / SCALABILITY THAN STATE-OF-THE-ART SOLAR ARRAYS. A CRITICAL ASPECT OF READYING THE ENABLING ROSA TECHNOLOGY FOR INFUSION INTO POTENTIAL END-USER APPLICATIONS IS TO INCREASE THE TRL TO 7+ VIA TEST / ANALYTICAL VALIDATION OF HARDWARE IN A RELEVANT SPACEFLIGHT ENVIRONMENT FOR: DEPLOYMENT, DEPLOYED DYNAMICS AND PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER PRODUCTION. THE ISS PROVIDES A READY AND COST-EFFECTIVE RELEVANT SPACE ENVIRONMENT (ZERO-G, VACUUM AND SOLAR ILLUMINATION/THERMAL) TEST-BED FOR THE VALIDATION OF THESE KEY TECHNOLOGY AREAS VIA THE STRAIGHTFORWARD FLIGHT EXPERIMENT PROPOSED. THE PHASE 2 EFFORT IS INTENDED TO LEAD TO THE DEFINITION OF A COMPREHENSIVE AND TEST-VALIDATED ISS-BASED ROSA EXPERIMENT DESIGN AND OPERATIONS PLAN THAT WILL FACILITATE / ACCELERATE AN ISS EXPERIMENT MANIFEST / REVIEW / APPROVAL PROCESS TO SIGNIFICANTLY SHORTEN THE TIME TO FLIGHT. THE PROGRAM INCLUDES: COMPREHENSIVE RISK MITIGATION FOR THE FLIGHT EXPERIMENT THAT INCLUDES HARDWARE-BASED TESTING / GROUND SIMULATION OF EXPERIMENT OPERATIONS (INCLUDING ISS STRUCTURE AND ROBOTIC ARM INTERFACES) WITH FUNCTIONAL AND FLIGHT-LIKE EXPERIMENT HARDWARE AND GENERATION OF DOCUMENTATION TO FACILITATE ISS FLIGHT EXPERIMENT BOARD REQUIREMENTS, INTEGRATION, OPERATIONS AND SAFETY REVIEWS.