Space

Two Korean research institutes are designing the 2.2 km × 2.7 km Korean Space Solar Power Satellite project with the aim of providing approximately 1 TWh of electricity to the Earth per year. The proposed system should use 4,000 sub-solar arrays of 10 m × 270 m, made out of thin film roll-out, with a system power efficiency of 13.5%.

Ascent Solar, a US-based manufacturer, has achieved an efficiency of 17.55% for its copper, indium, gallium and selenide (CIGS) technology. It says it plans to release a new CIGS solar module with this efficiency rating soon.

European satellite operator Eutelsat has revealed one of the two solar arrays on its recently launched 5 West B satellite has been lost. Only 45% of the craft’s generation capacity can be operated, hitting the company’s bottom line to the tune of $5-10 million.

Alta Devices’ gallium arsenide solar research cells have been certified with a 29.1% efficiency, setting a new single junction solar cell efficiency record. The most significant change, however, isn’t actually the efficiency; it is that the weight fell 30%, and from the words of Alta Devices, its process has lowered material costs to “essentially nothing”.

The space agency has successfully deployed its new roll out solar array in space for testing. The new panels are lighter and more flexible than the standard folded arrays on older satellites.