Nasa's solar panels efficiency compared with standard ones

[CENTRINO]

Does any one know what is the Nasa's space ships photovoltaic panels
efficiency compared with
the standard ones ?

Just curious.

 

[Eeyore]

Does any one know what is the Nasa's space ships photovoltaic panels
efficiency compared with the standard ones ?

Boeing's Spectrolab division that specialises in them can manage around
40% now IIRC with the latest multi-junction technology as opposed to ~
15% for standard commercial panels.

They are insanely even more expensive than 'standard panels' though
since that's not NASA'a main concern.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrolab
http://www.spectrolab.com/

Graham

 

[Cosmic]

CENTRINO ha scritto:

Does any one know what is the Nasa's space ships photovoltaic panels
efficiency compared with
the standard ones ?

much, much, much higher.

proven that Sunpower achieved a 20% panel efficiency for commercial use,
with GaAs cells NASA use for their satellites have a double efficiency,
ranging around 40% in the lab.
THis is mostly because of two factors: different technology used (much
more expensive) and environmental conditions: satellites orbiting around
our planet are about 240°C (say ~400F) below zero!! At such low
temperatures efficiencies of commercial panels would be rather high too!

Bye
Nico