BMDO/02-214B Electronic Devices - Foldable Integrated Thin-film Stiffening (FITS) for Spacecraft Electronic Solar Array Power Components

Mass and cost reductions are needed to meet the demanding requirements of present and future DOD, NASA and commercial spacecraft solar arrays. Unfortunately, the state of the art (SOA) rigid space solar cell technology has reached its limitations in system cost & specific power. The cheapest "off the shelf" cost is greater than $1000/watt (Only economies of scale can reduce $/watt for rigid solar cell technologies) and the highest beginning of life (BOL) specific power = 106 watt/kg. MicroSat Systems' space thin-film photovoltaic (TFPV) Foldable Integrated thin-film stiffening (FITS) array development provides the solution to lower cost and higher specific power for space solar arrays. FITS is a passive, integrated, lightweight, foldable and deployable spacecraft structure designed for thin-film PV arrays. FITS technology extends the bounds of SOA space PV systems by using flexible TFPV, integrated power cabling and stiffening technology. Combined with flexible body analysis techniques, FITS will meet the demanding mass, cost and power requirements of present and future satellites (phase II goals are $500/watt, and BOL specific power of 150 watt/kg). Economies of scale, non-recurring engineering, constant efficiency improvements, as well as developments in multi-junction and polyimide substrate thin-film PV, will result in a PV system cost of less than $200/watt and specific power of greater than 300 watt/kg.