Extraterrestrial Photovoltaics

So far, our space utilisation has been limited to only a few purposes, such as telecommunications, weather forecasting, and navigation. Therefore, the demand for PVs – the major power source of spacecraft – was limited. The recent privatization of the space sector has resulted in significant cost reductions (~23 times) for rocket launches in the last decade. One suite of technologies enabled by this transformation of the space sector is the mega satellite constellation projects (OneWeb, Starlink, and the European Union’s mega constellation) for broadband internet access. These projects plan to launch >100,000 satellites to low earth orbit (LEO) in space (17 times today’s total).

After the significant reduction in rocket launching costs, photovoltaic requirements change from high-cost-low demand to low-cost-high demand in this new space era. Dr. Aydin recently received a prestigious ERC Starting Grant to work in this direction. In this project, ultra-efficient multijunction perovskite-based tandem solar cells will be developed and realized in real space conditions. The potential outcomes of the project will make feasible several technological advancements for the benefit of humankind in the upcoming years.