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Solar Power for Near Sun, High-Temperature MissionsExisting solar cells lose performance at the high temperatures encountered in Mercury orbit and inward toward the sun. For future missions designed to probe environments close to the sun, it is desirable to develop array technologies for high temperature and high light intensity. Approaches to solar array design for near-sun missions include modifying the terms governing temperature of the cell and the efficiency at elevated temperature, or use of techniques to reduce the incident solar energy to limit operating temperature. An additional problem is found in missions that involve a range of intensities, such as the Solar Probe + mission, which ranges from a starting distance of 1 AU from the sun to a minimum distance of 9.5 solar radii, or 0.044 AU. During the mission, the solar intensity ranges from one to about 500 times AM0. This requires a power system to operate over nearly three orders of magnitude of incident intensity.
Document ID
20090004578
Acquisition Source
Glenn Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Landis, Geoffrey A.
(NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
May 11, 2008
Subject Category
Solar Physics
Report/Patent Number
E-16842
Meeting Information
Meeting: 33rd IEEE Photovoltaics Specialists Conference
Location: San Diego, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: May 11, 2008
End Date: May 16, 2008
Funding Number(s)
WBS: WBS 937818.01.01.10
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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