NASA has started testing a flexible solar panel on the International Space Station (ISS).
Now for the supply of satellites, relatively bulky solar panels are used, which unfold after being put into orbit by mechanical hinges. This design further limits the capacity of the head fairing of launch vehicles and their carrying capacity. As an alternative to NASA, in the framework of the Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) project on combining photocells with an ionic engine, a miniature solar panel called Roll-Out Solar Array (ROSA) was developed. Earlier, the agency tested the technology in ground-based vacuum chambers, now ROSA is tested on the ISS.
When folded, the new panel is a scroll on two flat composite guides. Under the influence of sunlight, they restore the shape in the form of tubes and unfold the structure. Thus, to start working, ROSA does not require an external drive and, in addition, it is 20 percentage points lighter and four times smaller than traditional analogues. According to the leading scientist of the US Air Force's Air Force Research Laboratory Jeremy Banik, ROSA heats up to tens of degrees in a few seconds, its thickness is several millimeters.
The mass of the experimental solar panel is estimated at 325 kilograms. In the first tests in vivo, it is installed on the Canadarm2 service system and transferred to the working position on June 18. Tests of the device will continue for a week: during this time, the team of the Office for the Development of Space Technology (STMD) expects to assess its energy efficiency, as well as resistance to temperature changes, microgravity and mechanical stress. In particular, engineers are interested in the effect of the torque of the apparatus on the photocells ROSA.
The new panel was delivered to the ISS in June 2017 with the help of a cargo ship Dragon. The launch anticipated the re-use of an airtight capsule that was participating in the CRS-4. In addition to reducing the cost of organizing missions, the development is expected to increase the capacity of spacecraft. So, the design provides for scaling: in the future, panels based on ROSA can be used for flights to the Moon or Mars. In addition, the technology can be used to produce more compact solar cells for domestic and industrial use.
After the experiment is over, the panel will be collapsed and disassembled with Canadarm2. Then the device will be placed in an unpressurized Dragon compartment and disposed of in dense layers of the atmosphere.
Earlier it became known that Russian cosmonauts, members of the ISS-51/52 mission, will conduct an experiment on the ISS on the study of noctilucent clouds and emission atmospheric layers in the mesosphere of the Earth. The experience is confined to the creation of advanced technologies for space monitoring.
