Comments
BHEL said on Monday that “space grade” solar panels assembled and supplied by its Bangalore-based Electronics Division have been successfully deployed on Indian Space Research Organisation's ‘GSAT-8' satellite.
The advanced communication satellite was successfully launched on May 21 by European Launcher Arianespace from Kourou in French Guiana to give a boost to direct-to-home services in the country.
The four solar panels supplied by BHEL for GSAT-8, have an area of over 5 sq.m each and contain multi-junction solar cells in series and parallel combinations, with a total power capacity of 4.5 kW.
The space grade solar panels were manufactured to “strict space quality standards wherein cell welding, bonding and wiring work was carried out by highly skilled manpower,” BHEL said in the statement.
Detailed testing
The panels were further subjected to detailed testing by ISRO, such as vibration and thermovac tests, as part of the space quality requirements to validate the mechanical, electrical and thermal performance, it added. The satellite was ISRO's heaviest, weighing at about 3,100 kg at lift-off.
BHEL, in collaboration with ISRO, has established “state-of-the-art 10,000 clean room facilities” at its Electronics Systems Division in Bangalore for the assembly and testing of space grade solar panels using high efficiency solar cells, it said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.