Recent progress in the large scale production of GaAs solar cells based on the Hughes-developed infinite solution epitaxy has demonstrated the feasibility for manufacturing the cells at a cost low enough to warrant their application to satellite power systems. Small panels have been assembled at Spectrolab for several preliminary flight tests, and the cells fabricated at Hughes Research Laboratories (HRL), have been qualified for space application both by laboratory tests and in space. The fabrication technology for the cells has been tested in a small pilot line and is being extended to the fabrication of concentrator cells as well as multijunction cells. In addition, 2 cm × 2 cm cells less than 50 μm thick with performance comparable to conventional thick cells have been fabricated recently, enhancing the exciting possibility of matching the performance of the best thin silicon cells in space with no weight penalty.
