News Article
Emcore GaAs panels to go into orbit in NASA's LADEE mission
The firm’s gallium arsenide based multi-junction solar cells will be used in a spaceship which is to orbit the moon.
Emcore Corporation has been awarded a contract by ASRC Research and Technology Solutions (ARTS), Greenbelt, Maryland for the design, manufacturing and delivery of solar panels for NASA Ames' Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission.
LADEE is a robotic mission designed to orbit the Moon. Its main objective is to study and characterise the lunar atmosphere, including fine dust particles suspended above the lunar surface. The spacecraft is currently scheduled to be launched in early 2013 aboard a Minotaur V vehicle from the Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia.
A total of 32 solar panels will be built for LADEE at Emcore's state-of–the-art manufacturing facilities located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
"This contract is an exciting award for Emcore, and we are proud to support NASA's newest lunar mission," said Christopher Larocca, Chief Operating Officer for Emcore. "Emcore has previously been awarded solar panel contracts for several other NASA missions, including the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Magnetospheric Multi-Scale (MMS) missions. We appreciate NASA's continued confidence in Emcore to supply solar panels for their demanding spacecraft power systems."
Emcore is a manufacturer of highly-efficient radiation-hard solar cells for space power applications. With a beginning-of-life (BOL) conversion efficiency nearing 30% and the option for a patented, onboard monolithic bypass diode, Emcore's industry leading multi-junction solar cells provide the highest available power to interplanetary spacecraft and earth orbiting satellites.
