Solar cells developed by a team of scientists, including one from Ohio State, were launched into space Tuesday aboard the space shuttle Discovery. The cells may one day help power a manned mission to Mars.
The project is a multi-institutional endeavor, led by OSU in conjunction with Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NASA.
Steven Ringel, professor of electrical engineering, led the project at OSU.
"The prototype cells now onboard Discovery will provide important flight data from which scientists will learn how the cells may operate for other more elaborate missions in the future, including a mission to Mars," Ringel said.
The cells are high efficiency, lightweight solar cells using new material technology. They consist of thin layers of compound semiconductor materials whose optical properties are tailored to capture most of the sun's energy within a thickness of less than three micrometers, Ringel said.
"The space program continues to need more on-board power but not at the expense of added weight," Ringel said.
The structure of these materials are engineered at the nanometer scale so they can be seamlessly merged with an inexpensive and lightweight material, which will be needed to carry out scientific missions, such as planetary probes to Mars, Ringel said.
Andrew Carlin, an OSU graduate student and research assistant in the electronic materials and devices laboratory, worked with Ringel on the project.
"It is important because the only way to maintain electrical power in space is through solar cells," Carlin said.
The cells will be mounted by astronauts outside the International Space Station and monitored for their performance over the course of a year, Ringel said.
Carlin said while in space, the cells' current and voltage will be monitored and the data will be transmitted back to Earth. The data will be analyzed for the cells' resistance to elements of space.
"Through this (data), the degradation of the cell due to solar radiation will be studied," Carlin said.
Ringel said the cells are built "literally atom by atom."
Scientists used techniques to grow crystals in a precise, planar fashion. From beginning to end, it would take about a day to grow a large wafer of solar cells, which can then supply about a dozen solar cells per wafer, Ringel said.
Ringel said the project began in his laboratory at OSU with MIT as an original partner, and with initial funding from NASA and the Army Research Office.
Gene Fitzgerald, a professor at MIT, also worked with Ringel on the project.
He said one obstacle in developing the new cells is the compatibility of the materials. Overcoming this hurdle was MIT's responsibility, he said.
Fitzgerald said putting these cells into space is the next step in producing a finished product.
"Although we expect certain performance in space," Fitzgerald said, "seeing is believing."
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