JPL has now demonstrated a laser communications pointing experiment between two JPL small satellites: ISARA (the receiver) and OCSD (the transmitter). ISARA is a 3U CubeSat that is powered by a novel, deployable Pumpkin solar array that stows around three sides of the 3U structure. The array's three monolithic panels are hinged together, and deploy to present 24 solar cells on top, and a Ka-band reflectarray (that is essentially an RF Fresnel lens), on the bottom. The flatness of these three panels is critical for the performance ISARA's Ka-band system.
In 2018, Pumpkin was the exclusive provider of solar panels for NovaWurks' PODSAT, a short-duration GTO-class mission to validate several concepts of NovaWurks' cellular architecture. PODSAT's primary solar panels used are the exact same models as are currently flying in LEO on NovaWurks' eXCITe mission. Read more about PODSAT here.
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