Abstract
Photovoltaics continue to be the primary source of electrical power for most near-Sun space missions. The desire to enhance or enable new space missions through higher efficiency, increased specific power (W/kg), increased volumetric power density (W/m3) and improved radiation resistance, along with decreased costs, continues to push the development of novel solar cell and array technologies. To meet present and future space power requirements, advanced multijunction solar cells and novel cell technologies are being pursued. These efforts have resulted in a continual advancement in performance, but new paradigms will be required to continue that performance trend. Similarly, new array technologies are being investigated and developed to meet the ever increasing power system performance requirements.
Highlights
Space photovoltaic (PV) development has made continual and remarkable progress, averaging roughly 0.5% per year improvement in absolute efficiency over many decades
This paper focuses on photovoltaic power system development efforts within the Space Vehicles Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) focusing on advanced solar cell, blanket and array technologies
Beginning in the early 1970’s, investment in space PV development began to wane as the conventional wisdom of the day asserted that PV generation capability was limited to approximately 1 kW of spacecraft power and beyond that nuclear power systems would be utilized
Summary
Space photovoltaic (PV) development has made continual and remarkable progress, averaging roughly 0.5% per year improvement in absolute efficiency over many decades (fig. 1). Space photovoltaic (PV) development has made continual and remarkable progress, averaging roughly 0.5% per year improvement in absolute efficiency over many decades Solar cell development activities were driven solely to meet spacecraft performance needs, as PV materials costs were considered to be too high for terrestrial applications. Financial forecasts indicated that photovoltaics would always be too expensive for terrestrial application. These apparent constraints turned out to be inaccurate, and PV development and applications have flourished for both terrestrial and spacecraft needs. A wide variety of PV technologies have been investigated and developed in order to attain the continual efficiency improvements demonstrated, with current 1-Sun space solar cells projected to attain >35% efficiency in the near future. History has shown that advancements in cell efficiency, as long as the new technologies have a comparable or better environmental
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
