E.T.COMPACT

E.T.COMPACT is an EIC Pathfinder Project funded by the European Innovation Council with 4.0 M€. The team of the project includes Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Coordinator), the University of Padova, the Technical University of Dresden, and the companies INDRA DEIMOS, Halocell Europe, Sunplugged and PERSEI Space. The main goal of E.T.COMPACT is to reach TRL 4 for an ultra-compact propellant-less in-space green-propulsion mobility module fed with solar energy and based on electrodynamic tether technology. Additionally, the team will develop a bare-photovoltaic tether demonstrator with Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE) larger than 12% and the double capacity for power harvesting and propellant-less propulsion. The project includes abundant research activities on preparing tandem PVK/CIGS 2-terminal thin film solar cells for space applications with PCE> 15%, and power/weight ratio>50W/kg, while preserving the design flexibility and cost of the laser printing process. The work plan also considers theoretical analysis to find innovative applications for the in-space use of solar energy and pave the way for the commercialization of E.T.COMPACT technologies.

CONSORTIUM