Idemitsu Kosan, a Japanese oil and chemical manufacturer, and Source Energy Company, a US-based space solar power system components manufacturer, announced collaboration plans to develop copper indium gallium-selenide (CIGS) solar PV arrays for satellite and space applications.
The next step in the partnership is a “rigorous development and testing campaign” at Source Energy Company’s facility in Colorado to prepare for deployment, according to a statement.
Idemitsu said its proprietary thin-film CIGS solar cell technology for the space market has high radiation resistance, a lightweight profile, and sustained high performance that can potentially “reduce the need for oversized arrays, resulting in substantial mass and cost savings for customers.”
Idemitsu became in 2019 the largest shareholder of Japanese copper-indium-selenium (CIS) module maker Solar Frontier.
Source Energy said that adding CIGS products to its existing space-grade silicon solar product portfolio helps it to better serve its flight customers and to meet the “growing demand for dependable solar arrays,” primarily for high-low earth orbit (LEO) and medium earth orbit (MEO) missions.
Idemitsu Kosan noted in the statement that it is leveraging its experience in the development of advanced CIGS-based solar cell technology intended for space applications.
In October, it announced in Japanese two separate CIGS space project launches. Specifically, it said it had participated in the Space Solar Cell Demonstration System (SDX) aboard the new unmanned HTV-X1 cargo vehicle launched by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and that its technology was onboard Botan, a small satellite developed by the Chiba Institute of Technology.
Source Energy Company was founded in 2021 as a developer and manufacturer of reliable and scalable solar power modules and array solutions for satellites and spacecraft.
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