Impact of the operating voltage on high power solar arrays

As the power level of commercial, civil and military satellites has increased, there has been a concurrent increase in their operating voltage. Oftentimes this increase in operating voltage has serious consequences. Most scientific satellites operate in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) over a range of inclinations from sun-synchronous, near polar to equatorial. Their operating voltage generally ranges from a nominal 28V to 56V. Communication satellites at (GEO have power levels from about 12 kW to 25 kW and have suffered major failures caused by charge accumulation and discharge in the presence of solar storms when the satellite is emerging from a shadow period. As future satellite power needs climb to 100 s of kilowatts and beyond for electric propulsion and other missions, the operating voltage will increase in order to save mass, hence a study of the implications of voltage increases is timely and warranted.