Gravitics Inc reposted this
Welcome to the first in our series of interviews with industry pioneers, Beyond the Grid: Interviews on Powering the Final Frontier! ๐จ๐ ๐ Today, we are speaking with Mark Miner, PhD, PE, Head of Mission Sciences at Gravitics Inc. He leads the company's development of thermal systems, batteries and solar power generation systems. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ-๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ/๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐บ? The usual twins, generation and storage. Weโre looking to house all kinds of activities in our vehicles, and reliable solar generation has to pair with serious batteries. We appreciate mPowerโs support with affordable solar for our body-mounted and optional deployable solar solutions. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐น๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ด๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ข๐บ๐ด? It starts with customer requirements, then to the simplest suitable system to meet them. We do not have a bells-and-whistles power system, but we focus on proven components, and we want our supply partners to shine in their areas of expertise. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐บ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ(๐ด) ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ? We aim to adopt demonstrated recent technology, rather than, say, ultra-heritage designs from decades ago. We believe this offers our customers the best performance at a reasonable cost, while building a design baseline that will allow us years of use. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ, ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐บ? We will always favor a supplier that is available and willing to co-solve problems in their domain. This is possible with distant suppliers, but we especially value the ability to talk through a question or a concern promptly. The material supply chain is very important, but the key to good engineering is the information supply chain, especially for a young company. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ/ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ? Power is the currency of space, second perhaps to mass. It seems to me that mass was the driver in the launch-constrained world that has been, and the combination of todayโs rapid-cadence launches, and the next-gen heavy launch vehicles will shift the pinch point to power. Solar will remain attractive for a very wide range of applications in the near-Earth space. The reduction in cost and the improved radiation tolerance of specialty silicon cells, will mean solar supplies the vast majority of space power for quite some time. #spacepower #beyondthegrid #space #solarpower