NASA has awarded a space technology team led by Entech a $1.82 million contract to develop a flexible, ultra-light solar array for powering future satellites and spacecraft.
The new solar array uses flexible, ultra-light lenses to focus sunlight onto high efficiency solar cells. A prototype Entech array has demonstrated 27.4% conversion efficiency, more than double that of the solar array recently attached to the International Space Station.
Entech will work with NASA's Glenn Research Center, Ohio, with an industry team including 3M, and Boeing subsidiary Spectrolab.
Source: Flight International
