Advanced Solar Cells with Thermal, Radiation, and Light Management for Space-Based Solar Power

Abstract

Space-based solar power (SBSP) can provide clean and continuous baseload energy by beaming solar power to our planet from photovoltaic arrays in space. While it is widely acknowledged that gigawatt-level, kilometer-scale solar stations in space are required to make SBSP a cost-competitive energy source, these systems can only be viable by implementing lightweight, radiation tolerant, deployable, and low-cost photovoltaic technologies. Here, advanced solar cells with thermal, radiation, and light management (ASTRAL) is presented, a photovoltaic device conceived for SBSP that consists of an ultra-thin tandem solar cell with flexible form factors, ultra-low weight, intrinsic radiation tolerance, and integrated light and thermal management. Through rigorous thermal, radiation, and optical device modeling, it is demonstarted that ASTRAL achieves decades-long lifetimes on SBSP-relevant orbits with $>$30$\times$ reduction in radiation shielding mass and corresponding launch costs, all while enabling power generation in excess of 1 kW/m² at operating temperatures $<$$100°$C. Together, these properties make ASTRAL a state-of-the-art photovoltaic technology and a compelling candidate for the practical delivery of SBSP.