Q & A with Lothar Gerlach, Head of the ESA Solar Generator Section

Name: Lothar Gerlach
Title: Head of ESA Solar Generator Section
What is your area of expertise?
I have more than 30 years of experience with solar cells and solar generators.

What made you choose this field?
I wanted to go to northern Germany and I opened a newspaper and found a job. I first worked for a company manufacturing solar [...]

Head of ESA Solar Generator Section Lothar Gerlach stands in front of the countdown clock at Kennedy Space Center just before the launch of Atlantis for SM4.
Name: Lothar Gerlach
Title: Head of ESA Solar Generator Section
What is your area of expertise?
I have more than 30 years of experience with solar cells and solar generators.

What made you choose this field?
I wanted to go to northern Germany and I opened a newspaper and found a job. I first worked for a company manufacturing solar generators for ESA. My first project was Spot 1, a French Earth-observing satellite. I designed the electrical network for the solar generator.
Tell us about the challenges of designing the power source for a spacecraft.
A solar generator is exposed. It is, in principle, the subsystem with the most interactions with different ...