Flight of the pico satellite solar cell testbed (PSSC Testbed) space experiment

The primary mission of the PSSC Testbed is to provide space flight data on two types of advanced solar cells, XTJ and ZTJ, produced by the two U.S. solar cell manufacturers, Spectrolab and Emcore, respectively. The PSSC Testbed flight data confirmed that the picosatellite can be used for measuring l-V characteristics of solar cells. Continuing monitoring of the l-V measurement will allow determining the actual degradation of the solar cells due to exposure to the space environment. Mission success for the initial low earth orbit (LEO) space flight provided proof of concept for the PSSC Testbed. Subsequent mission will fly in a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO), in which a 450-day radiation exposure of the solar cells will be equivalent to that of 15 years radiation exposure in geosynchronous orbit.