Abstract: The space solar arrays fixed on a rescue spacecraft staying in orbit without attitude control may not get enough irradiation area. This paper solves this problem by modeling, simulating and optimizing the layout of space solar arrays to increase their irradiation area in any orientation. In order to investigate the effective irradiation area in any irradiation orientation, this paper establishes the parameterization model of the spacecraft geometrical shape, the solar ray model in any irradiation orientation and the solar irradiation model with considering the shadows of the spacecraft structure. Based on the established irradiation model, this paper utilizes the genetic algorithm to optimize the key solar array layout parameters for increasing the minimum irradiation area. The visualization simulation results verify the validity of the proposed models. The optimization result indicates that the algorithm is convergent and achieves the effective irradiation area. This optimization result meets the requirement of the space flight mission.

Key words: Spacecraft, Solar arrays, Irradiation area, Layout optimization, Genetic algorithm