Milstar's flexible-substrate solar array: Lessons learned

The Flexible Substrate Solar Array (FSSA) is an evolutionary development of the lightweight, flexible substrate design pioneered during the seventies. Many of the features of the design are related to the Solar Array Flight Experiment (SAFE), flown on STS-41D in 1984. FSSA development has created a substantial technology base for future flexible substrate solar arrays such as the array for the Space Station Freedom. Lessons learned during the development of the FSSA can and should be applied to the Freedom array and other future flexible substrate designs.