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The Integrated Energy Systems Office (IESO) Space Photovoltaics (PV) Workshop convened 78 participants in Washington, D.C., on June 2, 2026: 37% from solar and space industries, 45% from federal agencies and national laboratories, and 18% from academia. Participants identified barriers to scaling the next generation of space PV and proposed research and development (R&D) targets and recommended actions for the community.
The targets and actions in this summary and the full report reflect recommendations of workshop participants and do not constitute commitments or the opinions of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
Satellites, powered by PV cells, are fundamental to national defense, global communications, weather forecasting, navigation, and a growing on-orbit economy. Workshop participants expect demand for space power to grow faster than domestic production can scale and faster than qualification pathways can adapt. Proven III-V technologies (which use semiconductors combining chemical elements from Group III and Group V of the periodic table) offer high energy conversion efficiency and radiation tolerance but remain costly and dependent on specialized equipment and concentrated supplies of gallium (Ga), germanium (Ge), and other components. Lower-cost silicon (Si), perovskites, and other thin films offer potential advantages in cost, scale, and mass but require mission-relevant reliability data and qualification pathways. Participants therefore identified three main barriers: technology reliability, domestic manufacturing and supply-chain resilience, and appropriate testing and qualification.
To overcome these barriers, participants identified three core opportunities for R&D:
A Phased Roadmap Consolidating the Actions Proposed by Workshop Participants
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