Technology developed during this SBIR program will be directly applied to any NASA telescope program involved with exoplanet discovery and characterization that needs an external occulter, or Starshade. The Exo-S STDT Final Report identified a potential rendezvous mission with WFIRST/AFTA because it is a large astrophysics telescope capable of supporting direct imaging with a starshade, and the current timing of its development fits with a potential starshade development and launch.
This solar array system would apply to any commercial or DOD application where a high stiffness, high strength solar array is needed. The design is scalable up to 20 to 30 m diameters which could achieve up to 300 KW. Arrays of this size can power solar electric propulsion systems. The strength and stiffness will allow high acceleration and maneuver loads.
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