First Solar Panels In Space

The european space agency s solar orbiter spacecraft launched in february.

First solar panels in space.

Building solar panels in space might be as easy as clicking print nasa. Three of the solar orbiter spacecraft s instruments including imperial s magnetometer have released their first data. Courtesy of john perlin. The first space application of solar panels came in 1958 when the vanguard i satellite was launched.

Solar panels in outer space some of the earliest uses of solar technology were actually in outer space where solar was used to power satellites. The satellite was powered by silicon solar cells with 10 conversion efficiency. Although it had only a 1 watt cell used to power its radio this was the beginning. Vanguard i the first solar powered satellite was launched with a 0 1w 100 cm solar panel.

Just four years after the first working solar cell was developed on march 17 1958 the naval research laboratory built and launched vanguard 1 the world s first solar powered satellite. Further satellites such as vanguard ii sputnik 3 and the explorer iii also used solar panels. Just in time for the space race the first solar panels made their debut in the satellite industry. In 1958 the vanguard i satellite used a tiny one watt panel to power its radios.

Vanguard i the first solar powered satellite celebrated its 53rd birthday this year setting mileage records and holding the title of being the oldest artificial satellite still in orbit. 1960 hoffman electronics creates a 14 efficient solar cell. Charles fritts installed the first solar panels on new york city rooftop in 1884. Hans ziegler who can be regarded as the father of spacecraft solar power.

This set the precedent of using solar on space flights and after that both the united states and the soviet union continued using solar panels on space flight culminating in the first use of solar panels for a manned spacecraft the soviet union s soyuz 1 which was unfortunately plagued by technical issues and whose one man crew died during landing the first ever spaceflight casualty. 1959 hoffman electronics creates a 10 efficient commercial solar cell and introduces the use of a grid contact reducing the cell s resistance. Later that year the vanguard ii explorer iii and sputnik 3 were all launched with pv technology on board.