{"id":4997,"date":"2025-07-17T15:14:36","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T07:14:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/astrobotic-advances-xl-solar-arrays-for-lunar-power-infrastructure\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T15:14:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T07:14:36","slug":"astrobotic-advances-xl-solar-arrays-for-lunar-power-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/astrobotic-advances-xl-solar-arrays-for-lunar-power-infrastructure\/","title":{"rendered":"Astrobotic Advances XL Solar Arrays for Lunar Power Infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Astrobotic<\/p>\n

NASA<\/strong> has awarded Astrobotic<\/strong> a Small Business Innovation Research Phase II contract to advance development of its Extra Large Vertical Solar Array Technology (VSAT-XL). Towering at over 30 m tall with the ability to generate 50 kW of power from its 20-meter-long solar panels, VSAT-XL would be the largest planned lunar power infrastructure to date to meet the growing power requirements of planned lunar missions.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs lunar surface missions continue to grow in scale and scope, the ability to generate, store, and distribute large amounts of power will become critical,\u201d says John Thornton<\/strong>, Astrobotic\u2019s CEO<\/strong>. \u201cA system like VSAT-XL has the power capacity to support in-situ resource utilization infrastructure and long-term habitats, which could unlock a whole new class of science and exploration missions that would not be possible before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Also Read: Astrobotic Technology: Pioneering Lunar Exploration with Advanced Robotics<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

Expanding on the design of Astrobotic\u2019s existing 10 kW VSAT system, the VSAT-XL takes the concept to a significantly larger scale. It is a solar-powered system that is deployable, self-leveling, and capable of sun tracking for optimal energy capture. It generates power with a set of deployable\/retractable solar array blankets raised over 10 meters above the lunar terrain, ideal for placement at the lunar south pole, where the sun circles the horizon at a low angle all year round. Designed to mount on top of Astrobotic\u2019s Griffin lander, VSAT-XL\u2019s larger solar panel surface area provides 50 kW of solar power to lunar surface assets. Like its smaller cousin, VSAT-XL will be a component of Astrobotic\u2019s LunaGrid system, the company\u2019s power generation and distribution service for long-term human and robotic operations at the lunar south pole. This latest award comes on the heels of a successful VSAT-XL engineering study for NASA, and with this new award, Astrobotic will manufacture a prototype to test the solar array deployment system.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhase one was focused on finding a stable and practical design for such a colossal system and packaging it all to fit on a current-generation launch vehicle,\u201d says Lauren Whitehouse<\/strong>, senior structures engineer for Astrobotic<\/strong>. \u201cNow we have the opportunity to mature VSAT-XL\u2019s design and build and test a functional prototype. While VSAT-XL is designed to enhance operations on the Moon, its components are versatile: they can be reconfigured for use on other planetary surfaces, like Mars, or linked together to form Astrobotic\u2019s LunaGrid power system.\u201d<\/p>\n

LunaGrid is designed to supply sustained lunar surface power for a range of missions lasting months to years at a time, including deliveries from commercial landers, large-scale science expeditions prioritized by the broader scientific community, privately developed payloads, and long-duration human exploration efforts requiring significant and reliable energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASA has awarded Astrobotic a Small Business Innovation Research Phase II contract to advance development of its Extra Large Vertical Solar Array Technology (VSAT-XL). Towering at over 30 m tall with the ability to generate 50 kW of power from its 20-meter-long solar panels, VSAT-XL would be the largest planned lunar power infrastructure to date […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[26,25,105,62],"class_list":["post-4997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-ground","tag-launch","tag-solar-array-drive-mechanisms","tag-solar-panels"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4997"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}