Phase II Final Report - NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts

Planetary Exploration Using Biomimetics
An Entomopter for Flight on Mars
Table 3-23: Thin-film Solar Cell Types and Their Characteristics
Solar Cell Type Efficiency Range Specific Mass kg/m 2
CuInSe2 11% to 6% 0.286
CdTe 8% to 15% NA
Si-film 9% to 14% NA
To determine the available power at the various proposed operational locations on Mars, some
assumptions have to be made on the capabilities and geometry of the solar array and its power
control system:
• Solar Cell Efficiency (hsc) 10%
• Solar Cell Fill Factor (Sff) 80%
• Power Conditioning Efficiency (hpcon) 95%
Also important in determining the total available power is the orbital and environmental characteristics
of the planets where solid-state aircraft might operate. From the environmental section,
the data that is important in determining the output of the solar array is given in Table 3-23.
Table 3-24: Environmental Properties for Solar Power Generation
Parameter
Mars
Orbital Eccentricity (e) 0.0934
Maximum Declination Angle (δ max )
24 o
Mean Orbital Radius (km), (r m ) 228 x 10 6
Total Days in a Year (d t ) 666
Day Length (hours), (h l ) 24.65
Mean Solar Intensity at Planetary Orbit (W/m 2 ), (SI om ) 590
Atmospheric Attenuation (τ) 0.85
The power available (P) per square meter of area is calculated as follows.
P =SI o τ η sc S ff (S - C cos(-a)) Equation 3-61
where
S = sin (φ) sin(δ) Equation 3-62
C = cos(φ) cos(δ) Equation 3-63
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Phase II Final Report