Emcore Corporation has been awarded a contract by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation (BATC) to design, manufacture, test and deliver solar panels for a new spacecraft.

The program is expected to last arouund 2 years, with a total contract value of nearly $6 million.

The solar panels delivered to BATC will utilise Emcore's ZTJ multi-junction solar cells. The ZTJ is currently one of the highest performance space-grade solar cells available in volume production to the global market. Production of the solar cells and panels will take place at Emcore's manufacturing facilities located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.

"We are very pleased to receive this award from Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation and recognise their confidence in our capabilities to manufacture and deliver the solar panels for this important mission," says Christopher Larocca, Chief Operating Officer for Emcore. "Our proven manufacturing capability, technology leadership and high-reliability solar panels make Emcore the supplier of choice for demanding spacecraft power systems."

Emcore is a global manufacturer of highly-efficient radiation-hard solar cells for space power applications. With a beginning-of-life (BOL) conversion efficiency close to 30% and the option for a patented, onboard monolithic bypass diode, Emcore's multi-junction solar cells provide high power to interplanetary spacecrafts and earth orbiting satellites.