Jane Edwards
Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory will collaborate with SolAero Technologies, Deployable Space Systems and RA Stall Consulting on a NASA program that seeks to develop solar array platforms designed for deep space missions.
APL said Thursday the team has entered into contract negotiations with NASA on the Transformational Solar Array for Extreme Environments proposal under the space agency’s Game Changing Development program.
Three other three proposals from Boeing, Orbital ATK and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory also qualified for the program’s negotiation phase as ExecutiveBiz reported earlier this month.
The GCD initiative seeks new technology platforms built to operate in low-temperature and high-radiation environments in an effort to extend the life of solar arrays and solar-powered space vehicles.
Edward Gaddy of APL serves as principal investigator on the APL-led project, which will have SolAero’s Inverted Metamorphic solar cells and DSS’ Roll Out Solar Array with Flexible Array Concentrator Technology as its primary components.
Each of the four research teams will initially receive up to $400,000 in contract awards and will perform system design, testing and analysis work over a nine-month period.
NASA plans to select two platforms and award up to $1.25 million in funds to support hardware testing and development work under the GCD program’s second phase.
