On-orbit characterization of space solar cells on nano-satellites

The Aerospace Corporation has been building, testing, and flying miniature satellites in the pico-and nano-satellite class for over a decade. Significant advances have been made to the bus avionics unit and other satellite subsystems during this time. The advances have enabled various on-orbit tests...

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Published in2016 IEEE 43rd Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) pp. 1331 - 1336
Main Authors Lee, Justin H., Nocerino, John C., Hardy, Brian S., Hinkley, David A., Rumsey, Daniel L., Carian, Peter J., Liu, Simon H., Walker, Don, Morales, John F., Rowen, Darren W., Arndt, David P., Maul, Geoffrey A., Welle, Richard P., Karuza, Petras, Janson, Siegfried W., McVey, John P., Gangestad, Joseph W., Mann, Colin J., Yao Yue
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 01.06.2016
Subjects
Current measurement
Extraterrestrial measurements
Instruments
low earth orbit satellites
Photovoltaic cells
power systems
Satellites
space technology
Space vehicles
Sun
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Summary:The Aerospace Corporation has been building, testing, and flying miniature satellites in the pico-and nano-satellite class for over a decade. Significant advances have been made to the bus avionics unit and other satellite subsystems during this time. The advances have enabled various on-orbit tests and experiments, one of which has been to host space solar cell experiment payloads. Recent solar cell flight experiments on Aerospace's CubeSats (AeroCubes) demonstrated several subsystems can simultaneously operate to obtain precise measurements of space solar cell performance. Low cost, rapid return CubeSat missions can be valuable development tools for advancing the readiness level of space technologies.
DOI:10.1109/PVSC.2016.7749832