Emcore to Make Solar Panels for New Spacecraft

Emcore Corp. was awarded a $6 million, two-year contract by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. (BATC) to design, manufacture, test and deliver solar panels for a new spacecraft.

The solar panels will be populated with Emcore’s ZTJ multijunction solar cells, the highest-performance space-grade solar cells available in volume production on the global market. Production of the solar cells and panels will take place at the company’s Albuquerque manufacturing facilities.

Emcore’s multijunction solar cells deliver a beginning-of-life conversion efficiency nearing 30 percent, with the option for a patented, onboard monolithic bypass diode. The solar cells provide the highest power available to interplanetary spacecraft and Earth-orbiting satellites, according to the company.

Emcore provides compound semiconductor-based components and subsystems for the fiber optic and solar power markets.

For more information, visit: www.emcore.com