A technology development program has generated a detail design of a lightweight 25 kW solar array for Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP). The fabrication and test of a full-scale array wing, 32.0 m x 4.06 m, is in progress to demonstrate technology readiness for fabrication, testing and flight of the large area lightweight solar array system. This paper presents the requirements for the 66 W/kg array and the component testing that has been performed to demonstrate technology readiness in the areas of SEP mission environmental survival, zero-gravity flat-fold array retraction, and NDT development testing. A zero-gravity test program was performed in the NASA KC-135 aircraft using a three-panel, full-width segment of the flat-fold array blanket with three degrees of panel stiffening. The full-scale solar array wing being fabricated is composed of three electrical modules, 76 x 200 cm, and mass simulator panels each 76 x 400 cm employing 2 x 4 cm glass slides (4.5 panels) and aluminum mass simulators (35 panels).
SEP full-scale wing technology development
Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference ; 1977 ; Washington, DC
1977-01-01
Miscellaneous
No indication
English
SEP full-seale wing technology development
Tema Archive | 1977
|Engineering Index Backfile | 1946
Full-scale research on flying wing
Engineering Index Backfile | 1949
|Full-Scale Research on a Flying Wing
Emerald Group Publishing | 1949
|