NASA testing deployable solar array on Pathfinder Mission

NASA testing deployable solar array on Pathfinder Mission
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 24, 2024

NASA has begun analyzing initial flight data and images from the Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-4 (PTD-4), which recently completed system checks, including evaluations of onboard electronics and payload support systems. One of the first images captured by the small payload camera shows Earth, marking the start of the mission's technology demonstration.

The PTD-4 mission is focused on testing a new power and communication technology called the Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and anTenna (LISA-T). The LISA-T experiment has successfully begun deploying its central boom, which will support four solar and communication arrays known as petals. These petals will eventually extend from the spacecraft bus to generate power and enable communication. Currently, the mission team is addressing a challenge with the full extension of the central boom before the petals can be fully deployed for operation.

Designed for small spacecraft, LISA-T's thin-film solar arrays offer significant improvements in power and communication capacity. The arrays are lighter, more compact, and can produce three times the power per mass and volume compared to existing technology. This demonstration will evaluate the deployment, performance, and durability of the solar array in space.

"The LISA-T experiment is an opportunity for NASA and the small spacecraft community to advance the packaging, deployment, and operation of thin-film, fully flexible solar and antenna arrays in space. The thin-film arrays will vastly improve power generation and communication capabilities throughout many different mission applications," said Dr. John Carr, deputy center chief technologist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. "These capabilities are critical for achieving higher value science alongside the exploration of deep space with small spacecraft."

The PTD mission series is designed to test innovative small spacecraft technologies using commercial platforms. Deploying LISA-T's flexible, lightweight solar array in space presents technical challenges, but smaller, lower-cost missions like PTD-4 allow NASA to take calculated risks for potentially significant technological gains. The goal is to support future deep space missions with enhanced power generation and data communication from a single integrated system.

The PTD-4 spacecraft launched on SpaceX's Transporter-11 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Aug. 16, entering low Earth orbit. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center developed the LISA-T system and avionics. The PTD-4 mission is managed by NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology program, based at NASA's Ames Research Center in California and funded by the Space Technology Mission Directorate. Terran Orbital Corporation of Irvine, California, built the Triumph spacecraft bus hosting the LISA-T experiment.