"We're enormously pleased to have completed construction and testing of the first flight wing for ISS," says Sid Bourgeois, space station solar array program manager at Missiles & Space. "A thorough battery of tests has demonstrated to us that this complex technology will harness the sun's energy in service of the Space Station and provide the power required for many years to come to this most important international mission."

The functional testing of the solar array flight hardware has involved several extension and retraction cycles of the 108-foot deployment mast and solar array blankets. Additionally, all individual solar panel circuits have been flash tested with simulated sunlight to verify output power. Further, a close inspection has been done to ensure that individual solar cells can withstand the harsh environment of space while converting sunlight into electricity. The array has also been exposed to harsh vacuum and thermal environments that simulate conditions 200 miles above the Earth's surface, and tested further in an acoustic chamber to simulate the violent shaking vibrations that accompany launch aboard the Space Shuttle.

Eight flexible, deployable solar array wings will generate the reliable, continuous power for the on-orbit operation of the ISS systems. Each wing consists of a mast assembly and two solar array blankets. Each blanket has 84 panels, of which 82 are populated with solar cells. A single panel contains 200 solar cells. The eight photovoltaic arrays thus contain a total of 262,400 solar cells. The technology has already been flight proven in a demonstration prototype solar array replacement flown by NASA and Missiles & Space on the Russian MIR space station.

When the ISS begins its mission, each cell will produce about one watt of power, for a theoretical maximum system power output of 246 kilowatts. That is enough electricity to power about 200 homes for a year. After 15 years in orbit,the cells will have become less efficient, providing only 185 kilowatts of power.The solar array wing and mast canister delivered today is scheduled for launch aboard a NASA space shuttle and delivery to the ISS in August 1999. The eight solar arrays will be launched on four shuttle flights, as assembly of the Space Station continues. Under a $450 million contract from the Boeing-Rocketdyne Division in Canoga Park, Calif., Missiles & Space has designed and is building and testing the eight array wings for delivery to the Boeing Company and NASA.

In addition to the solar arrays, Missiles & Space is providing other critical components for the International Space Station. Two sets of rotary joints are being designed and built for the solar arrays and thermal radiators. In addition, a trace contaminant control system has been delivered for the United States laboratory module. The company has contracts for space station work totaling approximately $1.1 billion and has more than 400 people working on the program.