More Power!
In the last two months, we have built and began testing the flight model solar panels for CuPID. If you remember, we posted about building the small, -X face solar panel in May, yet this panel was only able to fit 7 solar cells. Using the lessons learned from manufacturing the -X panel, we made the two main power producing panels for CuPID. Together, these two panels are enough to power the satellite with their total 33 solar cells! Below, Aleks and Emil lay a string of cells down onto the double sided Kapton tape adhered on the flight FR4 circuit boards.
Solar panels are a crucial part of a satellite, so testing needs to be rigorous. We test our solar panels electrical power production under a simulated sun environment, as well as exposing the panels to deep vacuum and thermal cycles like they will experience in orbit.
Left: Aleks proudly holds the +Y solar panel we created. Right: Brian tests the power production of the -Y panel under the LED sun simulator we have in the lab.
