At the end of January, the Japanese probe SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) was put back into operation after days of power failure. The Japanese Sharp Corporation, which developed the solar modules, has now published details of the technology. Accordingly, the thin-film cells installed on SLIM have a total output of 540 watts, consisting of 26 mini-modules measuring 297 x 271 x 0.25 millimeters. With an output of 20.9 watts per module, this results in an efficiency of 26 percent. The total weight of the solar modules is 1.07 kilograms.
The solar cells are designed as triple stack cells, a technology with which Sharp achieved a world record efficiency of 32.65 percent in 2022. Sharp began developing solar cells for space applications in 1967 and installed the first solar cells on the Ume satellite in 1976.
© PHOTON
https://www.photon.info/de/global.sharp/
https://global.sharp/corporate/news/240129-b.html
