Development of an automated space rated solar panel array for future lunar rover mission

Abstract: Space industry has been enormously growing in the last decades. Energy harvesting for space applications is usually a critical aspect of space missions, and therefore a method for doing it is included in most of the satellites and vehicles sent to space. This project focuses on energy harvesting for a Moon Rover. This will be done via a deployable solar panel system, which will be orientable in order to maximize the efficiency. This project is divided in two parts. The first one will be the mechanical design of the deployment system. The main deployment will be accomplished via a composite material boom, which will pull up a solar panel array. A second deployment phase will be accomplished using flaps that will slide out of the main system. The second part of the project will focus on the control of the panels. This task will be achieved using Model Predictive Control (MPC). This control will find the optimal way of moving the panels so that the energy is efficiently used.