FSRA: A Flexbile-Substrate Resilient Array

ABSTRACT: To address the DoD need for resilient spacecraft power generation, Roccor has partnered with SolAero to propose the Flexible-Substrate Resilient Array (FSRA).Like Lockheeds venerable Flexible Substrate Solar Array (FSSA) flown on the MILSTAR satellites, the proposed design utilizes a simple structural architecture with a single central beam and a tension-supported blanket.Unlike FSSA, FSRA carries tension through cables which support individual thin solar panels rather than carrying tension through the cell substrate itself.This enables the panels to remain decoupled so that they can be rapidly rotated much like Venetian blind blades for avoidance of man-made threats such as a laser attack.The central beam is a simple telescoping tube which can reliably retract the array into a protective housing to further protect the array against the broadest possible range of threats.While exhibiting a high level of resilience, the efficient FSRA structural architecture combined with folding of the two sub-arrays against the central beam when stowed for launch, also results in competitive performance metrics including a specific power of 200 W/kg and a stowed volume efficiency of 73 kW/m.; BENEFIT: The Air Force Space and Missile Commands (SMC's) mission is to provide resilient and cost-effective Space and Cyberspace capabilities for the Joint Force and the Nation.Various man-made threats are emerging in the space arena, such as directed energy weapons (i.e.: lasers) and kinetic anti-satellite (ASAT) kill vehicles.Being large and relatively fragile, solar arrays are a potential target for hostile action.The proposed FSRA will acheive SMC mission success against emerging man-made threats through high-rate de-pointing for agile threat avoidance and low-rate retraction for more broad threat avoidance.Commercial applications may include avoidance of space debris or meteorite strikes in commercial telecommunication satellite solar arrays.