For 3–5-year-lifetime, cost-sensitive, large-batch LEO constellations with relaxed launch-weight constraints, HJT/silicon is a reasonable choice. But for missions of 10–15+ years, high dose, and contracted power, GaAs remains the only roadmap backed by mature EOL data.
When engineers build a self-powered IoT device, 90% of the effort goes into photovoltaic conversion efficiency—30% versus 35%, endlessly debated. But anyone who has actually deployed field devices knows the truth: systems rarely die from insufficient generation. They die on the storage side. A week
The cost-reduction paths for space GaAs solar cells are narrowing simultaneously from two independent directions. 1. Push “Thinness” to the Limit and Recover What Is “Expensive” Flexible gallium arsenide (GaAs) solar cells less than 0.1 mm thick are being efficiently produced on production lines, we
