The goal of the Powersail project is to demonstrate the potential of amorphous silicon (a-Si) deposited on ultralight space-grade polyimide for solar power satellites (SPS). State of the art solutions are III-V compound semiconductor triple junction-based PV modules, which are 100 times too expensive and one order of magnitude too heavy to build a competitive SPS with terrestrial microwave energy collection infrastructure.

Diffraction limits the resolution of standard optical microscopes. Breaking the diffraction limit is the motivation behind Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) that includes Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Near-field Scanning Optical Microscopy (SNOM). SPMs create high-resolution maps of the sample’s surface by scanning the sample with nanometric probes. SNOM in particular, can simultaneously provide information on the morphology and on the optical properties of materials by illuminating the sample with a localized field provided by the microscope probe.

OOne important constraint in the sizing process of an ablative TPS for atmospheric entry vehicles is the temperature limit of the supporting heatshield structure and of the bonding material used to attach the TPS. This temperature limit is typically in the range of 150-180degC. For the CFRP the limiting factor is typically the resin. New resin materials (like cyanate ester or bismaleimide) have commercially become available in recent years and relevant CFRP materials been qualified towards higher temperature limits for other space applications (like solar arrays or antenna reflectors).

Both dark energy missions propose the use of the Teledyne Imaging Systems Hawaii-2RG detector and SIDECAR ASIC. These activities would lead to a European supply of NIR/SWIR detector technology for both these and future science missions. This programme aims at developing a prototype large area hybrid array comprising silicon read-out integrated circuit and HgCdTe photovoltaic sensing layer.