This proposal is led by the aerospace corporation to demonstrate through stratospheric balloon flights the applicability of a lightweight, low cost, compact and scalable solar cell measurement…

This is a $282,822.69 grant awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to The Aerospace Corporation, a non-profit research and development organization. The purpose of the 1-year project is to demonstrate the capability of a compact solar cell measurement module to accurately characterize the performance of high-efficiency solar cells under stratospheric conditions using high-altitude balloon flights. This will help inform the development of space-based solar cell technologies for future Earth and planetary missions. The data obtained from the flight demonstrations will be of interest to the broader U.S. space industry, including satellite designers, high-altitude flight providers, academic institutions, and national labs involved in photovoltaic research and development. There is no set-aside designation for this award.

This proposal is led by the aerospace corporation to demonstrate through stratospheric balloon flights the applicability of a lightweight, low cost, compact and scalable solar cell measurement module for performing eventual high-altitude balloon solar cell calibration. The main goals of the 1-year project are to: 1. Demonstrate the compact payload can obtain precision measurements of the performance output of high-efficiency solar cell test samples with their temperatures in the stratosphere from suborbital balloon platforms. The module has completed lab tests and is currently at TRL 4. 2. Retrieve the payload following flights and perform comparisons to baseline lab measurements. The comparisons will explore possible differences in solar cell output seen in lab measurements obtained under a lab AM0 light source tuned using a previous balloon calibration standard versus the flight measurements of those same cells while they were illuminated in the AM0 suborbital environment. The flight data will help inform our maturation and development of the module. Our flight demonstrations are relevant to the development of high-efficiency, radiation hard solar cells in that they will pave the way towards obtaining the data needed for rapid and accurate benchmarking of the latest high-efficiency technologies. Obtaining performance data on high-efficiency space solar cells in a lab environment is fundamental to development and improvement of these technologies for future earth and planetary missions. Our module and the data will have cross-cutting interest throughout the US space industry, since satellite designers need accurate data to accurately size solar arrays for their applications and mission profiles. Maturation of our module will also be of interest to high altitude flight providers, academic institutions, and other national labs engaged in photovoltaic research and development, so that they can reliably obtain test data. The data is of high priority to solar cell developers because IT helps inform their design changes and quantify technology improvements needed to advance space photovoltaics.