On Fri, 14 Feb 2003, Michael Wallis wrote:
> Came across this and thought it might have interesting possibilities
> for use in space. It's a flexable denim-like material that is an 11%
> efficient solar cell sheet...
There are actually several candidate technologies for mildly-efficient
flexible solar arrays, although this one has its interesting points.
(Note that when they say 11% is competitive, they're comparing to other
mass-production low-cost cell technologies. Cost-is-no-object space solar
cells are up around 25-30% and still improving steadily.)
> Imagine a shuttle ET covered with this as an orbital station...
Careful here. Typically you do not *want* to cover your station etc. in
solar cells, because you will overheat! Solar cells are, by definition,
very good light absorbers. (MOST, the satellite I was involved with, does
use body-mounted solar arrays... but if we were doing it over again, we'd
change that.) It's better to have separate solar arrays -- which could be
mechanically rather simpler with a flexible cell material -- and optimize
the exterior of the station itself for thermal control.
Henry Spencer
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