The Roll Out Solar Array (ROSA) and its larger version ISS Roll Out Solar Array (iROSA) are lightweight, flexible power sources for spacecraft designed and developed by Redwire. This new type of solar array provides much more energy than traditional solar arrays at much less mass. Traditional solar panels used to power satellites are bulky, with heavy panels folded together using mechanical. PatentBrian R. Spence and Stephen F. White were the first persons to patent the idea of the Roll Out Solar Array on January 21, 2010. They received a patent for this work on April 1, 2014. . NASA tested the ROSA technology in vacuum chambers on Earth throughout the and, satisfied by the promising results, commenced to test it in space on June 18 of 2017. ROSA launched aboard . Over time, the photovoltaic cells on the ISS' existing Solar Array Wings on the have degraded gradually, having been designed for a 15-year service life. This is especially noticeable with the first arrays t.
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