A Deployable Membrane-Based 100W Solar Array for SmallSats

The paper outlines the results of the intermediate development and testing of an 100 Wdeployable solar array for SmallSats. The activity is funded and carried out under ESA contract No. 4000133890/21/NL/MM/ra within the ARTES Advanced Technology programme. DEAR is a joint project between DLR, Astronika, AZUR SPACE Solar Power and ESA and aims at the development and ground demonstration of a membrane-based, deployable 100 W solar array that can be stowed in and deployed out of a 1U CubeSat volume. In the paper the main requirements for the development will be addressed which will lead to specific design constraints. Therefore, the design is mainly driven by the required 100 W power End-of-Life, its operation in a low Earth orbit environment for at least 5 years and its tight volume and mass restrictions. Especially in terms of mass and volume constraints these requirements demand that flexible or at least semi-flexible solar arrays need to be addressed for the problem solution. The paper will give an overview on the overall accommodation, the functionality of the deployment process and will present test results on breadboard level. An overview for the further ground demonstration of the development by means of an engineering model test campaign is presented.