Under the CRS project, Orbital Sciences will carry out eight pressurized space cargo missions beginning in early 2011 and running through 2015 to provide a U.S.-produced and-operated automated cargo delivery service to the International Space Station. An initial demonstration flight will be carried out as part of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services project.
Production of the solar panels will take place at EMCORE’s manufacturing facilities located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Dutch Space Chief Executive Officer Bart Reijnen said: “From our joint experience on NASA’s Dawn interplanetary project, which included Orbital as the prime contractor, we know that collaborating with EMCORE results in first-class technology tailored to specific needs. Their contribution to the solar arrays for the Cygnus spacecrafts will provide the highest available efficiency, optimized for the mission.”
EMCORE’s Chief Operating Officer Christopher Larocca said “This is a significant award for EMCORE as this program will be powered by the most highly efficient space solar cells available today. We are proud to once again be part of an Orbital-led mission with Dutch Space as the solar array provider. This is a reformation of the team that successfully collaborated on NASA’s DAWN mission, which is currently powering the spacecraft on its voyage to the Asteroid Belt. The CRS award builds on the successful heritage of DAWN and paves the way for more future partnerships with Dutch Space.”
