NASA's Photovoltaic Energy Research Plans and Programs
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Background
PILS team responded to a CLPS program call in late 2019 to provide readily available
(requiring minimal tech development) payload packages for integration onto future
landers
The team proposed a photovoltaic test-bed to measure electrical performance of
state of the art and next generation solar cells, and to measure the charge build up on
a small solar cell array
The concept was based off a heritage Materials on the International Space Station
Experiment (MISSE) solar cell flight test platform
Individual cells
Honeycomb
FRONT SIDE
-Solar cell
strings
MUX subassembly-
CPU subassembly
-Arc
IV subassembly
subassembly
High voltage
subassembly
REAR SIDE
Selected by Astrobotic, which will launch its Peregrine lander on a United Launch
Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket, along with 10 other NASA payloads
Landing at Lacus Mortis for a lunar day long mission (approx. 10 Earth days)
www.nasa.gov
Prior ISS Solar Cell Experiment
Lacus Mortis circled in Red
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