ATK Demonstrates 40 kilowatt, Light Weight Solar Arrays

ATK (NYSE: ATK) demonstrated full deployment of a large MegaFlex™ solar array under a NASA contract to further the development of a high-power system to be used for future robotic and manned exploration missions.

ATK’s 9.6 meter (32 ft) diameter Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) MegaFlex solar array design is capable of generating approximately 40kW of power with two wings when fully populated with solar cells, and it has been considered for near-term mission concepts such as NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission. The full deployment demonstration of MegaFlex was successfully conducted at ATK’s Goleta, Calf. facility on Dec. 9. The system completed validation testing through December before being shipped to NASA’s Glenn Research Center Plum Brook Station for thermal vacuum deployment testing this month.

“NASA’s over-arching objective is to further the development of low mass solar arrays that can be stowed very compactly for high-power SEP systems to be used for future robotic and manned exploration missions,” said David Shanahan, vice president and general manager of ATK Aerospace Group’s Space Components division. “By building on our family of solar arrays, our team was able to develop this breakthrough with affordable innovation and in rapid fashion to support NASA’s far-reaching planning efforts.”

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