Solar Junction moves further into space
Solar Junction, a provider of multi-junction solar cells for terrestrial concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) applications, is announcing a plan to become the world's leading provider of solar cells for space power applications.
At the 2015 Space Power Workshop in Manhattan Beach, California (May 11-14), the company presented on its next-generation space solar cells, in particular a fully lattice-matched, four-junction (4J) space cell product. Enabled by its proprietary dilute nitride technology platform, the 4J cell has predicted air mass zero (AM0) efficiencies exceeding 33 percent by 2016.
Solar Junction is currently producing a high efficiency three-junction (3J) space cell using its dilute nitride material as the bottom active junction on a GaAs substrate. 2014 saw the first commercial shipment of Solar Junction's 3J space cell, with AM0 efficiencies exceeding 31 percent, and the 3J product is undergoing qualification.
During the 2015 Space Power Workshop, The Aerospace Corporation presented radiation degradation results from two Aerospace AeroCube picosats currently on-orbit (since June 2014) carrying Solar Junction 3J space cells. The results demonstrate that dilute nitride materials have radiation hardness comparable to conventional cells and show great promise for Solar Junction's next-gen space products.
