Array Design Considerations for the Solar Probe Plus

The NASA Solar Probe Plus (SPP) mission will fly into the Sun’s corona, reaching as close as 9.86 solar radii from the center of the Sun. Power generation for the spacecraft will be provided by two solar array wings, which are being designed and built by JHU-APL and Emcore. SPP will get closer to the Sun than any previous mission, meaning that the solar arrays will need to operate reliably under unusually high irradiances and temperatures, a situation that introduces interesting challenges for the array design.