17-02-2025
New mass-producible space-grade solar cell promises 10x cost reduction
Extraterrestrial Power, a Sydney-based private Space Tech company, has unveiled its new space-grade solar cell thin enough to be mass-produced like terrestrial solar cells. Estimated to be up to ten times cheaper than current solar cells, this innovation could make waves in the space solar cell industry.
Supported by the Australian Space Agency, the federal government's satellite agency headquartered in Adelaide, this new technology is timely given the current rapid growth in satellite production.
Space organizations are looking for innovative ways to achieve their missions with improved sustainability and lower costs, so cheaper, lighter solar cells would be appealing. According to the company, its new solar cells are thin enough to benefit from mass production alongside terrestrial ones, while retaining the efficiency, stability, and robustness to survive in space.
The company explains that the main barrier to making solar cells thinner so far has been the need for them to survive the extreme atmospheric conditions in the orbit. This includes hazards like radiation, temperature fluctuations, and vacuum environments.
To this end, Extraterrestrial Power set out to develop solar cells that meet the high standards demanded for the technology. Backed, in part, by the Australian Space Agency's moon to Mars supply chain program, the company has now achieved what was once thought impossible.
'We are primarily focusing on utilizing the large investments in terrestrial solar for space, which has tremendous value for space,' said Peter Toth chief executive officer and co-founder of Extraterrestrial Power.
'Importantly, we are only utilizing technologies that allow high throughput manufacturing, which enables satellites being manufactured in high volumes necessary for low earth orbit (LEO) constellations," he added.
The company first demonstrated its solar cells on Caltech's space-based solar power experiment in 2023. This experiment made history by wirelessly transmitting power in space and beaming it to Earth for the first time.
That was shortly followed in 2024 when the cells took a ride-share on Waratah Seed. The New South Wales government supported this mission with various cutting-edge technologies on board.
'Since thin solar cells use less materials, but we still need to maintain high efficiencies, they will have applications on Earth for lightweight usage initially—and wider uses later," Toth explained.
These new cells could also enable the manufacturing of solar cells remotely in space. Harnessing in-situ resources such as lunar regolith (moon soil), which can melt down into different metals, is also a possibility.
If achievable, cells manufactured in situ could power rovers, robotic systems, and infrastructure for permanent human outposts in space. To this end, Extraterrestrial Power has declared its ambition to become "the electricity provider of the solar system."
'For humanity to move forward and become truly spacefaring, it needs an abundance of power in space, and sunshine is abundant in space,' Toth said. 'When founding Extraterrestrial Power, I long wanted to connect my passion for space and solar, which originally meant manufacturing solar panels on the Moon from local materials," he added.
