Solar Electric Powered Aircraft

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 11:17:02 -0700, "F.L. Whiteley"
wrote in
::

Interesting stuff.

http://www.daystartech.com/govrelease.htm


Yes. Interesting indeed.


From the DayStar Technologies, Inc. web site:

Ultra Lightweight Thin Film PV for Orbital & Airborne Vehicles

DayStar has developed expertise and know-how in fabricating its
high-efficiency CIGS thin-film solar cells on very lightweight
metal foils. The target of this effort is to surpass the 1000 W/kg
specific power benchmark (at the cell level). The Company has
presently achieved a 1400 W/kg specific power on small-area cells,
and 1000 W/kg on product-scale (24-cm2) cells. The CIGS cell
technology is presently unique in being able to meet this specific
power benchmark and surpass the 200 W/m2 performance benchmark
that is otherwise unattainable by other thin-film technologies.

DayStar is presently investigating this technology under a Phase
II SBIR from the Department of Defense, administered by NASA /
Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH. The target development
focus for the Phase II contract is to develop manufacturing
technology for the cell production process.


So it would appear that light weight photovoltaic technology is
beginning to move forward.

There's something to be said for high efficiency cells too:
http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/...r_030725s.html