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

Sammanfattning: Space industry has been enormously growing in the last decades. Energy harvestingfor space applications is usually a critical aspect of space missions, andtherefore a method for doing it is included in most of the satellites and vehiclessent 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 orientablein order to maximize the eciency.This project is divided in two parts. The rst one will be the mechanicaldesign of the deployment system. The main deployment will be accomplishedvia a composite material boom, which will pull up a solar panel array. A seconddeployment phase will be accomplished using aps that will slide out of themain system.The second part of the project will focus on the control of the panels. Thistask will be achieved using Model Predictive Control (MPC). This control willnd the optimal way of moving the panels so that the energy is eciently used.