CaltechAUTHORS
Published June 2017 | Version public
Book Section - Chapter Metadata-only

Design and Prototyping Efforts for the Space Solar Power Initiative

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon California Institute of Technology

Abstract

The Space Solar Power Initiative (SSPI) seeks to enable reliable, cost-effective baseload power generation from large-scale solar power stations in space. We propose an ultralight, modular power station, having specific power in the range of 1–10 kW/kg for the photovoltaic (PV) collection subsystem. The building block of the power station is the 'tile,' a self-contained element that performs PV energy collection, conversion to radio frequency (RF), and transmission to earth. To minimize PV mass, we select a 1D, 10–20X parabolic trough concentrator geometry, which provides cooling and radiation shielding for the cells, and which folds flat for deployment. Here, we discuss the design, fabrication, and testing of the initial PV tile prototypes.

Additional Information

© 2017 IEEE. We acknowledge financial support from Northrop Grumman. This effort made use of facilities provided by the Kavli Nanoscience Institute, the Molecular Materials Research Center, the Resnick Institute, and the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis at Caltech. We acknowledge the helpful contributions of Mark Kruer, Mike Levesque, and Erik Kurman at Northrop Grumman; Lynn Rodman at Nexolve; and Allen Smith at ABET.

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
90772
DOI
10.1109/PVSC.2017.8366621
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20181108-154443049

Related works

Describes
10.1109/PVSC.2017.8366621 (DOI)

Funding

Northrop Grumman Corporation

Dates

Created
2018-11-09
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-16
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
Kavli Nanoscience Institute, Resnick Sustainability Institute, JCAP, Space Solar Power Project