Ascent Solar Technologies, a U.S. manufacturer of copper indium gallium-selenide (CIGS) thin-film PV products, has announced the successful completion of product testing designed to simulate exposure to atomic oxygen (AO), a highly-reactive single atom form of oxygen created when solar radiation splits molecular oxygen in the upper atmosphere.
The test was designed to see whether Ascent’s CIGS products — protected by film made of fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) with a thickness of 1 thousandth of an inch (0.025 mm) — could withstand AO exposure equal to spending six months in orbit at the same altitude as the International Space Station (400km).
Ascent said its products exhibited zero loss of power following the testing. The company contrasts these results with the typical degradation in the glass adhesives, polymer encapsulants and other protective materials used in other space-based solar technologies like silicon and gallium arsenide (GaAs).
Indeed, a 2025 study that modeled degradation in solar cells in low-earth orbit said that exposure to AO can reduce the efficiency of solar cells by between 5 and 15 percent during the first year of flight. The study’s authors listed FEP among their top recommendations for improving space-based solar cell performance, noting it as the only material with “very high” resistance to AO.
“These positive results represent yet another critical value proposition of our PV technology, enabling spacecraft operators to endure the punishing conditions of space,” said Ascent Solar Technologies CEO Paul Warley in a statement. “With best-in-class lightweight panels, a highly flexible and rollable form factor, as well as resilience to the stresses of launch, our PV continues to prove itself to be the best choice for orbital power systems, especially as the commercial space market continues its rapid orbital infrastructure expansion in the coming years.”
Ascent Solar says it now plans to conduct additional AO exposure testing to simulate longer mission durations.
Meanwhile, the company’s technology is already in use in space, with a 150 W array powering the GENIEedge ATLAS mission launched by space-based compute and AI infrastructure firm NOVI in April 2026.
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