Title :
An analysis of eight-year operation of GaAs solar array at space station “MIR”
Author :
Kagan, M. ; Nadorov, V. ; Rjevsky, V.
Author_Institution :
KVANT Sci. Production Amalgamation, Moscow, Russia
Abstract :
At the initial period of the station operation it was necessary to meet rather hard requirements for specific characteristics of the major solar panel achievement of output power of 10 kW at an actual area of 70 m2. In order to meet requirements of long-term operation gallium-arsenide was chosen as the basic material for the solar array. At that time the technology of GaAs-solar cells was on a batch production basis at SPA `KVANT´ and it was successfully used for solar array manufacturing of an automatic station going to Venus, apparatus `Lunokhod´ and at a number of satellites of `Kosmos´ series. For the first time a solar array of 10 kW high-efficiency heteroepitaxial (Ga 1-xAlxAs-p-GaAs-n-GaAs) solar cell has been developed and used. The main results of this RandD programme are discussed
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; gallium arsenide; photovoltaic power systems; semiconductor device testing; semiconductor epitaxial layers; solar cell arrays; solar cells; space vehicle power plants; 10 kW; GaAlAs-GaAs; GaAs solar array; GaAs-solar cells; Kosmos series satellites; Lunokhod; MIR space station; RandD programme; SPA KVANT; automatic station; batch production; eight-year operation analysis; heteroepitaxial (Ga(1-x/)Alsub x/As-p-GaAs-n-GaAs) solar cell; high-efficiency; solar array manufacturing; Degradation; Electric variables; Gallium arsenide; Manufacturing; Photovoltaic cells; Production; Space stations; Space technology; Space vehicles; Testing;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, 1994., Conference Record of the Twenty Fourth. IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference - 1994, 1994 IEEE First World Conference on
Conference_Location :
Waikoloa, HI
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-1460-3
DOI :
10.1109/WCPEC.1994.520777
