TARGET: EUROPA
ABQ’s SolAero wins contract for solar panels for proposed mission to one of Jupiter’s moon
ABQ firm to create panels for Jupiter mission
Albuquerque’s SolAero Technologies Corp. has won a contract from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to design, build and test solar panels for a proposed mission to Jupiter’s Europa moon.
The solar panels for the proposed Europa Clipper will uses high-efficiency solar cells optimized for the low-intensity sunlight and low temperatures of interplanetary missions, the company said in a news release on the contract award.
NASA’s planned Europa mission will conduct a detailed reconnaissance of Europa and investigate whether the icy moon harbors conditions suitable for life.
SolAero has worked with NASA and the Jet Propulsion Lab in the past, providing power plants for the MAVEN mission to Mars, the Global Precipitation Measurement mission, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer and others.
SolAero said in its news release that the solar cell to be used for the Europa Clipper is currently powering more than 185 Earth-orbiting satellites and interplanetary spacecraft.
“SolAero is proud to support NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory with solar panels for this extraordinary mission to Europa,” said SolAero CEO Brad Clevenger in a statement. “For two decades, we have consistently been able to meet the challenges posed by NASA’s most demanding missions and we remain committed to ensuring that they can rely on SolAero for the highest-quality, mostaffordable satellite and spacecraft solutions available.”
SolAero employs 250 people at two facilities in the Sandia Science and Technology Park in southeast Albuquerque. It reported $71 million in revenue in 2016.
The company formed in 2014 after buying Emcore Corp.’s solar space division, It announced plans early this year to invest $10 million to remodel one of its facilities here, allowing it to provide end-to-end production of fullyassembled solar panels for spacecraft. It expected to add 80 more jobs from that expansion.