Characteristics of the solar array bird the solar array developed by astro und feinwerktechnik for the bird small satellite has a capacity of approximately 120 w and a mass of 4187 g.
Deployable solar panels satellite.
The deployable solar panel consists of three solar panels stacked on each other in the stowed configuration.
Dhv technology has signed a contract with nasa goddard space flight center to provide the solar panels of the gtosat mission geostationary transfer orbit satellite.
The width of the individual panels is 510 mm resulting in a span of 1536 mm.
However there are limited designs for compact lightweight support structures that can be folded or rolled up for launch and then self deployed in space to support these kinds of systems on small satellites.
One example of deployable solar panels can be found on the orion spacecraft jointly designed by esa european space agency and nasa.
The deployment system is based on a plastic fiber wire and thermal cutters guaranteeing a suitable level of reliability.
This spacecraft which is designed for journeys to the moon and to mars is equipped with 4 deployable solar panels which form an x shape and can produce about 10 kilowatts of power.
Dhv technology in smallsat conference 2019.
A prototype of the system has been realized for a 3u cubesat consisting of two deployable solar panel systems made of three solar panels each for a total of six deployed solar panels.
Such incidence was experienced by bird.
The height of the center panel amounts to 620 mm.
Lapointe has been a key technical team member of several successful flight programs including deployable open lattice masts rigid panel solar arrays flexible blanket solar arrays reflector dish deployment structures solar array blanket deployers and damped latching solar array hinge mechanisms.
Today due to advances in new technology and electronic minitiarisation it is possible for smaller satellites to use various deployable solar array solutions.
The deployment sequence develops in two steps as shown in fig.
The arrays are composed by 5 panels 3 on top 2 on bottom that attached to the cubesat structure just as another solar panel and once in orbit deploys to full extension includes deploy and release contact sensors and custom options are available on requests like sun and temperature sensors 7 panel.
In order to have an equivalent functionality to larger satellites small satellites still need to carry deployable antennas radiators solar panels and other instruments.
Failure in attitude control system could cause the batteries do not have enough power supply to operate the satellite.
In satellite with deployable solar panels its attitude control has to work almost all the time to ensure sun pointing to its solar panel side.
Deployable solar panels traditionally smaller satellites have not had deployable arrays to generate more power for advanced missions or more power hungry payloads.
