Space Experiment on High Voltage Solar Array

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The Two-Dimensional High Voltage Solar Array (2D/HV) Experiment was developed in order to demonstrate a structural enlargement of the solar array panel and an efficient power generation using high voltage in space. It has a triangle membrane compactly packed by a special folding method and solar cells electrical connected in series on its surface. The high voltage power generation in space is possible to cause the ionospheric plasma interactions. The Japanese and Americal investigators studied cooperatively the space environmental interactions. Our results were devoted to the development of the flight hardware and the software of the space operation.The 2D/HV was executed onboard a Japanese reusable free-flying platform "Space Flyer Unit" (SFU) on May 1995. The 2D/HV and SFU were controlled from Sagamihara Operation Center (SOC) in Japan. The Japanese and American investigators operated successfully the 2D/HV in SOC and acquired the flight data. Monitor cameras onboard SFU imaged a sequence to deploy and retract the 2D/HV in space. The Japanese and American investigators analyzed cooperatively the flight data and compared with our numerical simulations.The SFU was retrieved by the Space Shuttle Endeavor on January 1996. The SFU and 2D/HV are the first flight hardware to retrieved to ground after one year space flight in Japan. In order to perform the retrieval mission successfully a lot of technicl meetings and discussions with NASA were held in 1994 and 1995. The flight hardware of the 2D/HV was investigated as a post flight activities in 1996. All of the flight experiments in SFU was reviewed in America and Japan.