Deployment Opportunities for Space Photovoltaics and the Prospects for Perovskite Solar Cells

Abstract

systems currently being developed. A satellite internet constellation is a network of satellites orbiting in low-Earth orbit (LEO) to provide a global, continuous, low-latency, high bandwidth (broadband) internet service. The largest constellation planned so far is the SpaceX Starlink network with 42 000 LEO satellites. [1] In addition there is Amazon's Project Kuiper with 3236 LEO satellites, and the UK government's OneWeb containing 48 000 satellites. [2,3] Satellites are designed to operate for 3 to 4 years with ≈90-min day/night cycle. These systems require solar arrays to power each of the satellites that makeup the system. For the 42 000 Starlink satellites, estimates for solar power generation using 18% efficient devices [4] will be 316 MW (very conservative) or 526 MW using 30% efficient devices (Table S1, Supporting Information). This is for the currently planned SpaceX Starlink market alone, it is anticipated that solar power market for global internet constellations will be twice this amount approaching gigawatt (GW) level. As the focus for many of these satellites will be optimization on cost, there is an appetite for low cost cells with high specific power. As of July 2021 there is currently 5 MW of solar power being generated via currently deployed Starlink satellites. Space Settlement and ColonizationSpace settlement and colonization is the continuing presence of humans in space, beyond human spaceflight or operating space outposts. Although hypothetical at present, the construction of a space colony should be considered, keeping in mind a wide range of technological and economic challenges and possible solutions and research opportunities. The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Artemis program plans to permanently return humans to the Moon in 2024 and test the foundational technology for eventual human exploration of Mars [5] in the 2030's. In addition to government space programs the last 10 years has seen a major push from private individuals to accelerate the development of space technologies to allow for permanent colonization of space, the Moon, Mars, and beyond [6][7][8][9][10] . As the cost of launch has fallen by ≈23 times in the last decade [11] for sustainable commercialThe rapid progress in space exploration, mining, and tourism has been fuelled by both public and private sector investments. The latter has led to the need to reduce manufacturing and launch cost of space hardware to create a competitive and sustainable space economy. A major step in making space accessible is to develop affordable power systems for "commercial space" use. Photovoltaics has in the past and will in the future be a key component. Metal halide perovskite solar cells show the greatest potential of all emerging technologies for low-cost space photovoltaics. They have demonstrated the highest rate of power conversion efficiency improvement. Compared to the triple junction III-V compound semiconductor cells commonly used for space applications, perovskite cells have a higher power to weight ...

Ultralong Charge Carrier Recombination Time in Methylammonium Lead Halide Perovskites

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“…Methylammonium lead halide perovskites (MHPs) emerged as potential candidates to replace conventional silicon-based solar cells due to their impressive photovoltaic properties, relative ease of the crystallization process, and relative insensitivity to defects . Their additional applications include gas sensorics, light-emitting diodes, and gamma and neutron radiation detectors, as well as their use in space, which has recently been proposed …”

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