The SCARLET/sup TM/ array for high power GEO satellites

The GEO satellite market is demanding increasingly capable spacecraft which, in turn, drives commercial spacecraft manufacturers to require significantly higher power solar arrays. As satellite capability increases, the demand for high power array systems which are both cost and performance competitive becomes more crucial. Conventional rigid panel planar arrays, although suitable in the past, negatively impact spacecraft competitiveness for these new applications. The Solar Concentrator Array with Refractive Linear Element Technology (SCARLET/sup TM/) represents an economically attractive solution for meeting these new high power requirements. When compared to conventional planar arrays, Scarlet/sup TM/ provides substantially lower cost and higher deployed stiffness, competitive mass, better producability and affordable use of high efficiency multijunction cells. This paper compares cost/performance characteristics of the Scarlet/sup TM/ array to conventional planar arrays for high power GEO spacecraft applications. High power Scarlet/sup TM/ array configurations are described, and inherent spacecraft and array level cost/performance benefits are presented.