Solar Array Performance of a Geostationary Mission with Full Electric Orbit Raising

This paper reports the solar array performance of a Maxar spacecraft during a 4-month geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) through the Van Allen radiation belts. During this period, the spacecraft used its stationary plasma thrusters (SPTs) to propel from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to Geostationary Orbit (GEO). As expected, solar array experienced degradation due to the belts' trapped radiation. The paper provides the required analyses to predict the solar array degradation and the uncertainty of the prediction from available radiation models. The solar array flight telemetry performance versus predicted solar array performance are presented.