Nasa’s Game Changing Development (GCD) programme has chosen four proposals to develop solar array technologies, which will help spacecraft to explore destinations beyond low-Earth orbit, including Mars.

The space agency’s future deep space missions will need solar arrays, which have the capacity to function in high-radiation and low-temperature environments, while improving mission performance, increasing solar array life, and eventually help solar-powered vehicles to explore even deeper into space.

Among the four proposals selected by Nasa, one is from Maryland, US, and three are from California.

The first proposal selected for contract negotiations is transformational solar array for extreme environments from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory of Laurel, Maryland.

"The ultimate goal of increasing end-of-life performance and enhanced space power applications will greatly impact how we execute extended missions, especially to the outer planets."

The second selected proposal is micro-concentrator solar array technology for extreme environments from Boeing of Huntington Beach, California.

Nasa’s California-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s solar array for low-intensity, low-temperature and high-radiation environments proposal, as well as ATK Space Systems’ concentrator solar power systems for low-intensity, low-temperature and high-radiation technology development proposal have also been selected for the contract.

Nasa space technology mission directorate GCD programme executive Lanetra Tate said: "These awards will greatly enhance our ability to further develop and enhance LILT (low-intensity low temperature) performance by employing new solar cell designs.

"The ultimate goal of increasing end-of-life performance and enhanced space power applications will greatly impact how we execute extended missions, especially to the outer planets."

Last August, Nasa sought proposals to develop solar array technologies and received 13 proposals from its laboratories, research groups and aerospace companies.

Initial contracts would be valued at $400,000 each for a period of nine months, in which, system design, component testing and analysis will be performed.

Following the conclusion of the nine-month duration, Nasa expects to begin a second phase of the project, where the agency will select up to two of these technologies to develop and test hardware.

In the third and final phase of the project, one awardee will continue the development and deliver scalable system hardware.

The GCD programme is being managed by Nasa’s Virginia-based Langley Research Center.