Emcore Corp of Albuquerque,NM,USA,which makes components,subsystems and systems for the fiber-optic and solar power markets,has been awarded a solar panel manufacturing contract by Orbital Sciences Corp for the spacecraft it is making for NASA's Ice,Cloud,and land Elevation Satellite-2(ICESat-2)mission,which is targeted for launch in early 2016.Solar panels populated with Emcore's most advanced ZTJ triple-junction solar cells will power the spacecraft.
ICESat-2 builds on measurements taken by NASA's original ICESat mission.ICESat was the benchmark Earth Observing System mission for measuring ice-sheet mass balance,cloud and aerosol heights,as well as land topography and vegetation characteristics.Data from ICESat,which was in orbit from 2003 to 2010,revealed thinning of the world's ice sheets.ICESat-2 will use precision laser-ranging techniques to measure the topography of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and the thickness of sea ice.
"This award for ICESat-2 continues the strong partnership between Orbital Sciences Corporation and Emcore,"says Brad Clevenger,general manager of Emcore's Photovoltaics Group.
Emcore claims to be the world's largest 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,the firm's multi-junction solar cells can provide the highest available power to interplanetary spacecrafts and earth-orbiting satellites,it adds.
