Human activities in space have been solar powered for more than 70 years. Now, as the space industry accelerates, new opportunities are emerging for specialized solar manufacturers, writes Jake Veloza of Eternal Sun Wavelabs. The extreme and unforgiving conditions of space demand a high level of performance and durability, and accurate testing methods will be needed to get these new solutions off the ground.
US Naval Research Laboratory engineers place the first solar-powered satellite, Vanguard 1, atop the third stage of the launching vehicle in March 1958.
Image: Naval Research Laboratory, Wikimedia Commons
From the magazine
There is money in going to space. The global space economy will grow from $630 billion in 2023 to $1.8 trillion by 2035, according to an April 2024 report from McKinsey & Company. Satellite manufacturing revenues alone are expected to triple from $4 billion to $12 billion in that time, while satellite-enabled technologies, expanding space exploration, and even space tourism are all expected to be key growth drivers. The expansion is being fueled by increasing participation from private companies.
The Eternal Sun Wavelabs team experienced this momentum firsthand in November 2025 at Europe’s largest space-technology exhibition, Space Tech Expo, in Bremen, Germany. With nearly 1,000 exhibitors, the event showcased satellites of all shapes and sizes.
Component suppliers, from electronics and propulsion to solar and battery systems, are scaling up to meet demand from this specialized high-value market. Attendance at the Bremen exhibition has nearly doubled since 2023, reaching 12,300 participants in 2025. Interest in the space economy is taking flight.
It’s not only the scale of the space industry that is changing, but also the type of satellites being deployed. As many as 70,000 low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites are expected to launch over the next five years, driven by rising demand for satellite-based internet, precise location services, and remote-Earth observation, according to analysis from Goldman Sachs. LEO satellites form constellations with groups of satellites that work together to achieve a shared objective. This concept underpins the ambitious plans floated by some tech companies to create space-based data centers to power AI development and operations. This rapid increase in scale is prompting a reassessment of the solar technologies required to reliably power satellites throughout their lifetimes in orbit.
Solar power has been used in space since 1958, when it was first deployed on the spherical Vanguard 1 satellite. Today, high-efficiency III–V solar cells, predominantly gallium arsenide (GaAs), remain the gold standard for space applications. GaAs cells can achieve efficiencies exceeding 32%, according to NASA’s 2025 Small Spacecraft Technology report, making them ideal for orbital use.
Beyond efficiency, GaAs solar cells offer superior resistance to harsh space conditions. A comparative study published in the IEEE’s Transactions on Nuclear Science shows that GaAs cells can withstand radiation exposure of up to 50 krad (Si) – the unit for ionizing dose using silicon as the reference material. Conventional silicon solar cells typically tolerate only 10 to 20 krad (Si).
The GaAs-based solar supply chain is struggling to keep pace with the accelerating expansion of the space industry. At Space Tech Expo, multiple reports cited lead times of 12 months or longer for GaAs solar cells, alongside a price premium for these high-performance products, currently produced in small volumes. Low production yields and damage during shipment are also frequently noted as factors further constraining supply.
Analysts from Shield Capital highlighted this growing bottleneck, estimating the global annual GaAs solar cell production capacity at 2 MW. In a report published in Space News, the venture capital firm noted that not only is GaAs-based solar manufacturing constrained by volume, but also by supply chain concentration. China dominates the global gallium supply chain, accounting for approximately 98% of production. In mid-2023, China halted all gallium exports to the United States, raising concerns across the US space industry. Gallium exports to the United States have remained at zero, while licensed shipments to other markets, such as Germany, Japan, and South Korea, resumed after a short pause, but at limited volumes.
In response to both the GaAs supply bottleneck and the rapid growth of LEO satellite deployments, manufacturers are increasingly exploring specialized crystalline silicon (c-Si) technologies alongside emerging solar semiconductors, such as perovskites and perovskite tandems.
Strengthened c-Si modules may be well suited to relatively short-lived LEO satellites. However, measures such as more robust cell interconnection and thicker front glass that can accommodate large thermal cycles and the radiation encountered at low orbit, are unlikely to provide sufficient durability for higher-altitude missions or longer operational lifetimes. Beyond LEO altitudes, radiation exposure is more severe and thermal swings extreme, with temperatures regularly dropping below -50 C.
A range of innovations are being employed by c-Si space solar developers. Solestial is developing ultrathin, flexible silicon heterojunction solar cells designed to enable low-temperature annealing of radiation damage. The company, based in Tempe, Arizona, reports having raised almost $30 million in funding.
Sandia Laboratories spinoff mPower has developed a densely packed, cut-cell architecture arranged in a mesh configuration that can be adapted to a range of satellite form factors. Marketed as DragonScales, the technology is designed to deliver electrical resilience and radiation resistance at low mass. The company closed a $24 million Series B funding round and began production on a 1 MW manufacturing line in 2025.
Perovskite solar cells are emerging as a promising alternative, particularly due to their potential for self-healing after radiation exposure. This characteristic has made them an increasing focus of on-­orbit testing and demonstration missions.
Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin has reported efficiencies approaching 30% in perovskite–silicon tandem cells and 25% in perovskite–CIGS devices. In 2024, the research institute deployed both technologies aboard an on-orbit verification Cube satellite to evaluate their performance in space. In parallel, Japanese electronics multinational Ricoh began testing its perovskite modules on a spacecraft operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in October 2025, noting that the technology demonstrates “strong resistance to cosmic rays.”
Accurate characterization and testing of emerging space-solar technologies will be a critical step toward commercialization, requiring specialized equipment for both in-line and offline applications. Sequential testing, conducted after mechanical vibration and thermal cycling, is essential for qualifying both space-hardened silicon and thin-film solar technologies.
Thermal cycling requirements for space-qualified components typically span a temperature range of -55 C to 125 C, according to a recent NASA report on small spacecraft, compared with -40 C to 85 C for conventional commercial components. Photovoltaic cells must also undergo current-voltage (I–V) testing before and after exposure in thermal vacuum chambers. Resistance to significantly higher levels of ultraviolet radiation is also required, necessitating the integration of UV-boosting capabilities into test chambers.
To accurately replicate space conditions, LED-based solar simulators must be tuned to reproduce the Air Mass Zero (AM0) spectrum. Eternal Sun Wavelabs has already delivered testing equipment with AM0 capability for space-solar applications. As manufacturers scale production, typically in relatively small volumes but with stringent performance requirements, in-line AM0 testing can enable validation of both cells and modules prior to launch.
Jake Veloza is an experienced business developer who leads sales for Eternal Sun in the United States. Before joining Eternal Sun, he worked in business development and sales for Massachusetts-based biotech company Thermo Fisher Scientific. In 2024, he completed an MBA with a focus on advanced sustainability at the Rotterdam School of Management.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those held by pv magazine.
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