GaAs photovoltaic technology application: ARSENE solar array

摘要

This paper describes the solar array design, manufacturing and testing of ARSENE, a French radioamateur minisatellite planned for launch into an elliptic equatorial orbit (20000-36000 km) in May 1993 with the ARIANE 4 vehicle. The six solar panels composing the solar array embody 29 strings of 34 GaAs solar cells, series connected, necessary to meet the end-of-life power requirement of 42 W at 25.5 V. Different considerations that have led to the electrical design optimization and layout definition are discussed in the paper. Testing activity, successfully carried out both at panel level and satellite level, has completed the activity on the ARSENE satellite.