ALBERT

Description: The measurement system requirements to obtain accurate electrical performance measurements of amorphous silicon cells and modules were described. The progress achieved in modifying the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) system toward that objective were reviewed.

Description: The development of the capability for measurement under global irradiance spectral distribution is reported. The airmass 1.5 global measurement procedure is given. Also given is the procedure and justification for using the large area pulsed solar simulator (LAPSS). The status of the international round robin of reference cell measurements managed by the Commission of European Communities (CEC) is described.

Description: The use of secondary calibration in large area pulsed solar simulators (LAPSS) is discussed. It is argued that primary calibration in sunlight is time consuming, that only a limited sun calibration of a set of primary reference cells is required, that the LAPSS light source is filtered to closely match the am 1.5 direct spectrum, and that the temperal stability of the filtered LAPSS is excellent. There is the possibility of a lower error rate. Lower costs are anticipated.

Description: The Large Area Pulsed Solar Simulator (LAPSS) has been installed at JPL. It is primarily intended to be used to illuminate and measure the electrical performance of photovoltaic devices. The simulator, originally manufactured by Spectrolab, Sylmar, CA, occupies an area measuring about 3 m wide x 12 m long. The data acquisition and data processing subsystems have been modernized. Tests on the LAPSS performance resulted in better than plus or minus 2 percent uniformity of irradiance at the test plane and better than plus or minus 0.3 percent measurement repeatability after warm-up. Glass absorption filters reduce the ultraviolet light emitted from the xenon flash lamps. This results in a close match to three different standard airmass zero and airmass 1.5 spectral irradiances. The 2-ms light pulse prevents heating of the device under test, resulting in more reliable temperature measurements. Overall, excellent electrical performance measurements have been made of many different types and sizes of photovoltaic devices. Since the original printing of this publication, in 1993, the LAPSS has been operational and new capabilities have been added. This revision includes a new section relating to the installation of a method to measure the I-V curve of a solar cell or array exhibiting a large effective capacitance. Another new section has been added relating to new capabilities for plotting single and multiple I-V curves, and for archiving the I-V data and test parameters. Finally, a section has been added regarding the data acquisition electronics calibration.

Description: A Large Area Pulsed Solar Simulator (LAPSS) has been installed at JPL. It is primarily intended to be used to illuminate and measure the electrical performance of photovoltaic devices. The simulator, originally manufactured by Spectrolab, Sylmar, California, occupies an area measuring about 3 meters wide by 12 meters long. The data acquisition and data processing subsystems have been modernized. Tests on the LAPSS performance resulted in better than +/- 2 percent uniformity of irradiance at the test plane and better than +/- 0.3 percent measurement repeatability after warm-up. Glass absorption filters are used to reduce the level of ultraviolet light emitted from the xenon flash lamps. This provides a close match to standard airmass zero and airmass 1.5 spectral irradiance distributions. The 2 millisecond light pulse prevents heating of the device under test, resulting in more reliable temperature measurements. Overall, excellent electrical performance measurements have been made of many different types and sizes of photovoltaic devices.

Description: A flexible solar array strip is formed by a method which lends itself to automatic production techniques. Solder pads are deposited on printed circuitry deposited on a flexible structure. The resultant substrate is stored on a drum from which it is withdrawn and incrementally advanced along a linear path. Solderless solar cells are serially transported into engagement with the pads which are then heated in order to attach the cells to the circuitry. Excess flux is cleaned from the cells which are encapsulated in a protective coating. The resultant array is then spirally wound on a drum.

Description: Continuous-feeding machine automatically bonds solar cells to printed-circuit substrate. In completed machine, cells move to test station where electrical characteristics could be checked. If performance of cell is below specifications, that cell is marked and removed. All machine functions are synchronized by electronics located within unit. It may help to lower costs in future solar-cell production.

Description: A flexible solar array strip is formed by providing printed circuitry between flexible layers of a nonconductive material, depositing solder pads on the printed circuitry, and storing the resulting substrate on a drum from which it is then withdrawn and advanced along a linear path. Solderless solar cells are serially transported into engagement with the pads and are infrared radiation to melt the solder and attach the cells to the circuitry. Excess flux is cleaned from the solar cells which are then encapsulated in a protective coating. The resulting array is then wound on a drum.

Description: Commercial glass optical filter corrects spectrum of xenon flashtubes used to test photovoltaic solar cells. Filter withstands thousands of flashes without perceptible alteration of passband characteristics. With filter, calibration errors reduced to less than 1 percent.

Description: The first steps for In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) on target bodies such as the Moon, Mars and Near Earth Asteroids (NEA), and even comets, involve the same sequence of steps as in the terrestrial mining of resources. First exploration including prospecting must occur, and then the resource must be acquired through excavation methods if it is of value. Subsequently a load, haul and dump sequence of events occurs, followed by processing of the resource in an ISRU plant, to produce useful commodities. While these technologies and related supporting operations are mature in terrestrial applications, they will be different in space since the environment and indigenous materials are different than on Earth. In addition, the equipment must be highly automated, since for the majority of the production cycle time, there will be no humans present to assist or intervene. This space mining equipment must withstand a harsh environment which includes vacuum, radical temperature swing cycles, highly abrasive lofted dust, electrostatic effects, van der Waals forces effects, galactic cosmic radiation, solar particle events, high thermal gradients when spanning sunlight terminators, steep slopes into craters / lava tubes and cryogenic temperatures as low as 40 K in permanently shadowed regions. In addition the equipment must be tele-operated from Earth or a local base where the crew is sheltered. If the tele-operation occurs from Earth then significant communications latency effects mandate the use of autonomous control systems in the mining equipment. While this is an extremely challenging engineering design scenario, it is also an opportunity, since the technologies developed in this endeavor could be used in the next generations of terrestrial mining equipment, in order to mine deeper, safer, more economical and with a higher degree of flexibility. New space technologies could precipitate new mining solutions here on Earth. The NASA KSC Swamp Works is an innovation environment and methodology, with associated laboratories that uses lean development methods and creativity-enhancing processes to invent and develop new solutions for space exploration. This paper will discuss the Swamp Works approach to developing space mining and resource extraction systems and the vision of space development it serves. The ultimate goal of the Swamp Works is to expand human civilization into the solar system via the use of local resources utilization. By mining and using the local resources in situ, it is conceivable that one day the logistics supply train from Earth can be eliminated and Earth independence of a space-based community will be enabled.