Optically Transparent Metamaterial Absorber for Shielding Mechanism Conversion of Satellite Solar Panel

Satellite solar panel inherently produce strong radar echoes and cause secondary electromagnetic pollution due to their highly reflective nature. To solve this, an optically transparent metamaterial absorber (OTMMA) is constructed using the solar panel as the substrate. The proposed multilayer structure consists of a patterned indium tin oxide (ITO) layer, a transparent polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) spacer, and the solar panel itself. In the 8–18 GHz range, the design achieves over 90% absorptance while maintaining an average visible transmittance of approximately 73%. More importantly, the reflection shielding effectiveness (SER) is reduced from over 15 dB to below 3.01 dB, successfully shifting the shielding mechanism from reflection-dominated to absorption-dominated. Benefiting from this conversion, simulations under normal-incidence and x-polarized conditions demonstrate that the monostatic radar cross section (RCS) of a finite plate is significantly suppressed, achieving a reduction of more than 10 dB across the operating band, with a peak reduction of 20.43 dB at 10.7 GHz. This transforms satellite solar panel from a harmful “electromagnetic pollution source” (strong reflector) into a “functional surface for electromagnetic purification” (optically transparent metamaterial absorber).