AFRL Thin Film Solar Cell Development and Upcoming Flight Experiments

The many advantages of thin film solar cells, namely flexibility, high radiation resistance, low mass, and low cost production, will go untapped until space environmental effects on them are well understood, which requires on-orbit testing. In response to the need to perform on-orbit testing of thin film solar cells, the Space Vehicles Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is preparing two flight experiments. The thin film solar cell flight experiment on the AFRL Roadrunner Mission will consist of two technologies, amorphous silicon (a-Si) and copper indium gallium di-Selenide (CIGS), each producing roughly 60 W of power. The flight is planned for mid-2005 and will be in low earth orbit (LEO). The AFRL deployable structures experiment (DSX) will host a significantly larger thin-film solar cell experiment (4.5 kW) and will fly in medium earth orbit (MEO) in 2009. The main objectives of both flight experiments are to characterize on-orbit thin-film solar cell performance, enabling the creation of on-orbit performance models and successful transition to operational use