Goddard Space Flight Center Solar Array Missions, Requirements and Directions

Abstract

The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) develops and operates a wide variety of spacecraft for conducting NASA's communications, space science, and earth science missions. Some are "in house" spacecraft for which the GSFC builds the spacecraft and performs all solar array design, analysis, integration, and test. Others are "out of house" spacecraft for which an aerospace contractor builds the spacecraft and develops the solar array under direction from GSFC. The experience of developing flight solar arrays for numerous GSFC "in house" and "out of house" spacecraft has resulted in an understanding of solar array requirements for many different applications. This presentation will review those solar array requirements that are common to most GSFC spacecraft. Solar array technologies will be discussed that are currently under development and that could be useful to future GSFC spacecraft.