Solar panels for microsatellites: GaAs, GaAs/Ge and beyond

The need for microsatellites to generate the maximum power from small body mounted solar panels has led in many cases to the first demonstration of advanced technologies on these spacecraft. Because of the short schedules characteristic of microsatellite programmes there is the opportunity to obtain real flight data for new solar cells which can be valuable in designing solar arrays for future large scale spacecraft. This paper presents flight and ground test data from test cells flown on the University of Surrey´s UoSAT-5 microsatellite. By comparing the relative rates of degradation of cells from the on board solar cell experiment the performance of space solar panels using the different advanced space solar cell technologies are predicted and compared with conventional silicon