| Title: | High-temperature photovoltaic cells for near-sun and interstellar precursor missions |
| Authors: | Corentin Guéméné, Author |
| Material Type: | ISU Individual Project |
| Publisher: | Illkirch-Graffenstaden (France) : International Space University, 2021 |
| Format: | 1 electronic resource (vi, 34 p.) / col. ill. |
| Bibliography note: | Includes bibliographical references |
| Languages: | English |
| Description: | This report focuses on missions in which extreme environments are present for the solar arrays and gauges the readiness of current technologies. The missions consist of a Mercury orbiter, a solar probe to study the Sun from up close, and finally, an interstellar precursor mission to prepare for future missions on the outer Solar System and beyond. The first step is to provide an overview of the state of the art of different technologies corresponding to solar cells, thermal regulation of spacecraft at very high temperatures, power transmission using space-based lasers, and advanced EP propulsion systems. This review is then used to assess the Technology Readiness Levels of the different technologies using objective criteria as much as possible and predict which technologies will evolve the fastest, and propose a reasonable roadmap for their development and evolution. Overall, we conclude that missions to Mercury and the Sun are already possible with current technologies and that further improvement on these will lead to more ambitious missions. We also establish that laser-powered interstellar missions using electrical propulsion are still far off in terms of feasibility. |
| ISU program : | Master of Space Studies |
| Format : | Online |
| Permalink: | https://isulibrary.isunet.edu/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=11373 |
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 Guéméné, Corentin_IP (2.62MB) Adobe Acrobat PDF |
