Space Circular Economy: Planned Experimental Approaches for Spacecraft Solar Arrays

Space Circular Economy: Planned Experimental Approaches for Spacecraft Solar Arrays | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Space Circular Economy: Planned Experimental Approaches for Spacecraft Solar Arrays Margot Clauss, Verena Schefthaler, Noé Bursachi, Georg Herdrich, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8901169/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted 7 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The space industry aims to promote economic growth while ensuring a sustainable use of space. The sustainability objectives of space often refer to the cleaning of space debris via Active Debris Removal missions. Those solutions, despite being needed, are unsustainable as they still follow a linear economic model, and present the risk of being used as the "Space Greenwashing". Space Circular Economy permits giving value to space debris, as they will be considered as material resources. It is a long-term objective that must be investigated in tandem with ADR and in-space manufacturing and assembly. Spacecraft solar panels are good candidates for pilot investigations of in-orbit circular concepts. The results of a first study on the thermal degradation behavior of the solar cell encapsulant, WACKER® RTV-S 691, show great potential for further investigation of thermal delamination processes applied to spacecraft solar panels. This paper aims to propose an experimental approach to investigate the use of solar radiation to delaminate and to anneal spacecraft solar cells. Space Circular Economy Solar cells Recycle R-strategies Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 11 May, 2026 Reviews received at journal 27 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 22 Mar, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 24 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 19 Feb, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 18 Feb, 2026 First submitted to journal 17 Feb, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8901169","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":596467854,"identity":"4ce14452-cdae-4dd0-a20a-7f9bd082b9d2","order_by":0,"name":"Margot Clauss","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA20lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDADPjBZYUGs+gQGBjYw44yEBIlaGNuI0KLbfvbxi48/GOTZ2M8Yf/w5T6LO4AD7wwf4tJidSTeznJHAYNjGk2MmzbtNQsLgAI+xAV4tB9LYjHkSGBLYGHLMmBkhWtjwus7s/DOoFv43QIfNAWlhf/4Dr5YbacyPwVokcgwkeBtAWhjM8OkAannGxjgjTcKwTeJZmTTPMQnJmYd5jAk4LI35wwcbG3l+/uTNH3/U2PDzHW9/+AGvNcAYAZqJbCwzAfUgJYTMHAWjYBSMgpEOAD4CPt1bkC3ZAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Luleå University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Margot","middleName":"","lastName":"Clauss","suffix":""},{"id":596467855,"identity":"955ed158-7534-4b92-b473-af337f6119c2","order_by":1,"name":"Verena Schefthaler","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Stuttgart","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Verena","middleName":"","lastName":"Schefthaler","suffix":""},{"id":596467856,"identity":"eafb8dd0-6a0e-4ba4-8a51-0923d2e7ebea","order_by":2,"name":"Noé Bursachi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Centre National d'Études Spatiales","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Noé","middleName":"","lastName":"Bursachi","suffix":""},{"id":596467857,"identity":"eaf082ea-58d0-4f98-9808-75ac0c4560d3","order_by":3,"name":"Georg Herdrich","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Stuttgart","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Georg","middleName":"","lastName":"Herdrich","suffix":""},{"id":596467858,"identity":"90d42394-3ab9-413c-b266-d677a23035fa","order_by":4,"name":"René Laufer","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Luleå University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"René","middleName":"","lastName":"Laufer","suffix":""},{"id":596467859,"identity":"b88a96d5-5800-43c5-80f7-da6796924cad","order_by":5,"name":"Anna Örhwall Rönnbäck","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Luleå University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anna","middleName":"Örhwall","lastName":"Rönnbäck","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-17 12:39:56","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8901169/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8901169/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":103478501,"identity":"90689734-d79d-4972-a1ac-0865875a2a20","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-26 07:27:24","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":741964,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"CEASMClauss12022026.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8901169/v1_covered_2872e71e-b701-4fda-ad72-2616855747b9.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Space Circular Economy: Planned Experimental Approaches for Spacecraft Solar Arrays","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"ceas-space-journal","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"ceas","sideBox":"Learn more about [CEAS Space Journal](http://link.springer.com/journal/12567)","snPcode":"12567","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/12567/3","title":"CEAS Space Journal","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Space Circular Economy, Solar cells, Recycle, R-strategies","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8901169/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8901169/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe space industry aims to promote economic growth while ensuring a sustainable use of space. 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