MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Corporation

Published purpose

With the advancement of Low-Earth Orbit Constellation missions and a higher focus towards more New Space/demonstration type missions, we believe at MDA Space that there is a real need and advantage to decrease the costs and mass of traditional solar array assemblies. To develop this technology in Canada reduces the reliance of the Canadian space sector towards American and European solar array providers. Furthermore, it would create more work on this side of the border, it would increase MDA Space’s competitiveness on the global space industry market, and it has the potential to help enable missions that weren’t closing within certain budget constraints by improving by a significant margin one of the biggest cost centers on a numerical satellite such as MDA AURORA™. More specifically, the proposed research and development work would increase the technology readiness level of a lightweight solar array comprised of a flexible substrate onto which the solar cells/modules are bonded or encapsulated, and a deployment mechanism of the type of pantograph with simple pivots and a simple cost actuator, which get validated through various breadboards and a representative prototype that undergoes environmental testing.