Cost-Effective ISS Space-Environment Technology Validation of Advanced Roll-Out Solar Array (ROSA)

Effort proposed is for detailed planning, configuration and hardware definition of a low-cost, but high technology payoff, ISS-based flight experiment that will allow key relevant space-flight environmental validation of our innovative Roll-Out Solar Array (ROSA) technology/ hardware. The ROSA flex-blanket solar array technology provides game-changing affordability and performance, and delivers a performance paradigm shift in terms of: significantly lower cost, greater specific power, more compact stowage volume, higher structural performance, deployment reliability, less complexity, and higher modularity & scalability than state-of-the-art solar arrays; for NASA deep space planetary exploration/science, high-power solar electric propulsion (SEP) Tugs and Exploration vehicles, commercial orbital transportation and resupply (COTS, CRS)missions. The critical and necessary aspect of readying the enabling ROSA technology for infusion into these applications is to increase the TRL to 7+ via test-validation of hardware in a relevant spaceflight environment provided by ISS (and supporting scalable predictive model validations) for three key ROSA technology advance areas critical to solar array implementation by end-users: Deployment Kinematics, Deployed Dynamics Behavior and Photovoltaic Power Production / Survivability. The ISS provides a ready and cost-effective relevant space environment (zero-G, vacuum and solar illumination/thermal) test-bed for the validation of these key ROSA technology areas via the straightforward flight experiment proposed. The proposed ROSA ISS flight experiment will leverage off of existing ground-based hardware test / analysis efforts to continue the systematic ROSA technology maturation, risk mitigation and TRL advancement to level 7+, through space-environment validations of a ROSA prototype-experiment flight wing's function and performance. It will also allow generation of flight validated, scalable, TRL 7+ predictive models.

The impacts of a successful Phase 1 and Phase 2 flight experiment development; and successful ISS space flight TRL 7+ validation of the ROSA technology will provide a reliable replacement for expensive and inferior-performing solar arrays, will enable many future NASA missions requiring: high specific power, high stiffness / strength, scalability / modularity, high stowed packaging efficiency, autonomous retraction and re-deployment capability, large-area / high power capability, high voltage operation, LILT operation, and high radiation survivability; including many of NASA's Exploration and Planetary Science missions, and will provide a next generation technology for ultra-reliable, elegantly simple and low-cost high-performance flex blanket solar array applications. The ROSA technology is very well suited for high-power, high voltage Exploration missions, SEP missions, deep space LILT missions, high strength and high stiffness CEV, COTS/CRS, rovers, and other NASA mission applications requiring significant design flexibility, scalability, modularity and low cost.

ROSA is also ideal as a direct replacement solar array for the large number of projected future commercial communications satellites that require ever-increasing power levels, and DoD surveillance / communication applications requiring the highest performing solar arrays. The proposed (ISS-flight validated) technology will undoubtedly provide discriminating performance and will be mission-enabling for many commercial and DoD space missions / applications when compared to current state-of-the-art systems. The ROSA technology's ultra-high performance, affordability (less expensive than rigid arrays), configuration flexibility and low-parts, and elegantly-simple deployment reliability is game-changing for the commercial space solar array industry.

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