The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicThe structure concept allows zero to four deployable wings, with the possibility of body-mounted cells. These different configurations are shown in Figure 5. Multijunction cells are recommended, but the concept lends itself naturally to technology experiments using a mix of cells. Each wing has a mass estimated at 3.1kg (including deployment spring and cells).
Note that the inherent stiffness of the rigid panels deployed without rotation mechanisms leads to an absence of low-frequency modes which would limit the AOCS agility. Any concept using large flexible arrays would inhibit such agility.
A single Li-ion battery is the favoured energy storage, distributed via an unregulated bus.