Photo Credit: Ascent Solar
Ascent Solar’s thin and flexible solar capture film will continue off-world testing aboard a NASA spacecraft this year.
According to a story from Electrek, it’s a unique intersection of the latest in solar cell technology and an advanced NASA spacecraft, part of ongoing research to optimize how the renewable energy source can power small craft, among other scientific advances.
NASA is using the film as part of its Lightweight Integrated Solar Array project, which aims to develop “cheap power for spacecraft.”
“The selection for this upcoming space mission is the culmination of Ascent’s years of work with NASA,” CEO Paul Warley said in an Electrek report.
The Colorado company’s lightweight, bendable solar film is made in part with a copper-indium-gallium-selenide blend. It is a mixture of metals that is thinner than human hair, unbreakable and relatively inexpensive. The photo of the invention shared by the Ascent team looks like a roll of camera film. It is also similar to printable film-like solar cells being developed at the University of Swansea in Wales as part of other innovations in the sector.
Ascent’s product “can be packaged for any environment,” according to the company’s website, making it flexible for a customer’s needs.
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For NASA, this means a solar array that requires less space to store than previous designs. It can also produce three times more energy than other solar panels. Late last year, Ascent announced publicly that plans to launch its Titan product for space use are on schedule. Titan builds on learnings from previous work with NASA. One module is about 1 square foot and weighs 10 grams. The latest technology has an energy efficiency of 17.55% according to Electrek.
For reference, most solar panels have an efficiency — the percentage of solar energy converted into electricity — of 15% to 20%, MarketWatch reports.
So far, Ascent technology testing has included deployment on the International Space Station. This next step will place the solar array on a small craft while in orbit. The company’s website cites a collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency as part of other projects on Ascent’s resume.
Moreover, the knowledge gained by the NASA and Ascent teams will likely not be limited to space travel. Better, adaptive solar options can only increase Earth’s solar capacity as we transform our energy system.
As NASA describes in its project brief, it all starts with “big power for small spacecraft.”
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