Space Mission Tests NREL Perovskite Solar Cells
Article courtesy of NREL.
by Wayne Hicks
On a clear night, Kaitlyn VanSant will be able to watch her work whiz by. Knowing the success of her project, however, will have to wait until her tiny, temporary addition to the International Space Station returns to Earth.
“My family and I have definitely been looking up at night more frequently,” said VanSant, who earned her doctorate from the Colorado School of Mines in materials science last year. Now a postdoctoral researcher with NASA, VanSant holds a unique collaborative appointment at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
The pairing of NREL and NASA continues a long-standing alliance between solar power and space. Specialized photovoltaic (PV) panels turned to the sun have been used to generate electricity for Mars rovers and space probes, but the manufacturing costs of these high-efficiency solar cells are too high for use on Earth. Researchers at NREL are testing ways to bring those costs down for terrestrial applications and transforming how PV technologies could work in space as well.
The latest test will evaluate the potential use of perovskite solar cells in space and assess the durability of materials used in those cells. VanSant worked with Ahmad Kirmani, Joey Luther, Severin Habisreutinger, Rosie Bramante, Dave Ostrowski, Brian Wieliczka, and Bill Nemeth at NREL to prepare the perovskite cells and materials. Eight of these samples are scheduled to launch to the space station in August and another set of 25 samples will be launched in the spring of 2022. The samples, each of which are a square inch in size, are part of the Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) program and will be fastened to the outside of the orbiting platform.
The International Space Station (ISS) serves as an orbiting research laboratory and observatory that conducts scientific experiments in a range of fields that include astronomy, physics and materials science, to name just a few.
“We get to prove very nascent technologies in such a way that we don’t fool ourselves by simulating the space environment on the ground in a vacuum chamber, for example,” said Timothy Peshek, an electrical engineer in the photovoltaics group at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and VanSant’s postdoctoral adviser. “This is the real-world operation.”
With approval in hand to return PV experiments to the space station, Peshek put out calls for researchers who might want to take part. Adele Tamboli, a researcher in the Materials Physics research group at NREL, welcomed the opportunity, and introduced Peshek to VanSant.
“Partnering with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory just made a lot of sense,” said Peshek, himself a former post-doctoral researcher at NREL. “They had the facilities and abilities ready to go on day one.”
This perovskite sample is in the intermediate crystal phase and about to be placed on a hotplate to fully crystallize. Photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL
Solar power on Earth tends to be generated from silicon modules. Other PV technologies, such as those used in space, rely on materials from the III and V columns of the periodic table and are dubbed III-V cells. Scientists have experimented with stacking a III-V cell atop a layer of silicon to increase the efficiency of capturing sunlight to convert to electricity. By itself, the most efficient silicon solar cell is about 26%, when measured under the typical terrestrial solar spectrum. (The solar spectrum is different on Earth and in space.)
Tamboli was among the research group that set records in 2017 for III-V cells on silicon, including a triple-junction cell with an efficiency of 35.9%. She, along with VanSant and staff scientist Emily Warren, would later propose that these types of cells could find a use to power satellites in a low Earth orbit. Before that could happen, the cells had to be tested in the extreme conditions of space.
If the moon is a harsh mistress, space itself can be equally cruel. Equipment is subjected to extreme swings in temperatures and bombarded by solar radiation. When the ISS moves behind the Earth and away from the sun, the temperature plummets to 250 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. Emerging into sunlight spikes the temperature to 250 degrees above zero.
“That’s harsh,” Peshek said. “That’s a pretty brutal environment.”
“Radiation damage is a factor,” said Warren. “Our record cell was gallium arsenide on silicon, and the one that we sent up is actually gallium indium phosphide on silicon. That was because we know that those materials would be more radiation tolerant.”
SpaceX’s cargo re-supply spacecraft carried NREL’s III-V-on-silicon solar cell to the ISS in March 2020. VanSant, whose Ph.D. research centered on III-V-on-silicon tandem solar cells, worked with Michelle Young and John Geisz at NREL to fabricate the prototype cell for the MISSE project, and watched a broadcast of the rocket launch carrying it into space.
“I watched it with my two daughters,” VanSant said. “They got a real kick out of it. I mean, you can’t really watch a space launch without just being completely fascinated. Nobody can be blasé about a space launch.”
The prototype spent 10 months affixed to the exterior of the ISS before being returned to Earth in January.
“The post-flight analysis of the cell gives us the opportunity to study how we want to evolve the design and to improve it for performance and to see whether it’s realistic that this could be a technology for providing power in space,” VanSant said.
Now she is playing a waiting game for the perovskite solar cells and materials, which are expected to spend six months on the ISS. The process is not a straight shot into space. After NREL, the cells are shipped to Alphaspace, a Houston company that prepares the samples for operation on the MISSE platform and arranges the launch of the experiment aboard a SpaceX flight.
Perovskite solar cells are grown using a mixture of chemicals, and notable for a rapid improvement in how efficiently they are able to harness sunlight for energy. Ongoing experimentation involves readying perovskite cells for commercial use. The early perovskite cells degraded too quickly. Progress has been made but there is still work to do.
“It’s a real interesting problem,” Peshek said, “because these cells are notorious for having degradation problems. But the reason they degrade is because of moisture and oxygen. We don’t have to worry about that in space.”
Earth-bound experiments conducted in radiation test facilities demonstrate perovskite solar cells are surprisingly tolerant to radiation, said Joseph Luther, a senior scientist at NREL, co-adviser on the project, and an expert in perovskite technology. “They are very thin, and so that helps a lot. Most of the radiation just goes right through them. Silicon, relative to perovskites, is hundreds of times thicker. It’s also very cheap due to the production scale and is awesome for terrestrial PV applications, but in space it’s so thick that when radiation is impinging on the surface it gets absorbed and it damages the cell, causing problems.”
Lightweight perovskite solar cells would fit with NASA’s ongoing mission to reduce the price for putting a payload into orbit, from about $10,000 per pound today to hundreds of dollars a pound within a quarter-century.
“We’re very interested in trying to match the efficiency of the III-V solar cells, but do it in an extremely lightweight cell design,” Luther said. “Perovskites can be deposited on plastics or metal foils and things like that, which are comparatively lightweight.”
The efficiency of the solar cells was measured before leaving NREL and will be measured again upon their return. Both the cells and the component materials of the cells will also be characterized before and after flight, with imaging expertise provide by Steve Johnston. How well the perovskite cells and materials survived their trip will be immediately apparent. Lyndsey McMillon-Brown, a research engineer at NASA Glenn Research Center and principal investigator on the effort to bring working with Peshek on bringing perovskites to space, said a color change offers the first clue.
“The desirable phase for a perovskite solar cell is a black phase,” she said. “The film is jet black. However, when these things degrade, they turn into a yellowy mustard color. So we’re hoping to see black films upon their return.”
The lessons learned from the time the perovskites spend in space could help with the technology terrestrially. “Some of the things that we’re facing in space are extreme, like extreme temperature cycling, extreme UV exposure, but when you’re here on Earth you still have UV exposure and you still have temperature cycling,” McMillon-Brown said. “It’s just not as rapid and frequent. We’re still thinking that our lessons learned and our findings will apply and help make perovskites more marketable and gain a bigger commercial market share here on Earth, too.”
While waiting for the return of the perovskite samples, VanSant receives a regular reminder of the ongoing work. She signed up for text notifications about when the ISS is visible overhead. When the time is right and her 7- and 9-year-old daughters are awake, they try to spot the space station.
“In addition to watching the ISS go by in the night sky, we have also watched NASA’s video footage from cameras outside the ISS that show the Earth passing by as the ISS orbits,” VanSant said. “The launch of these cells has been a great reminder to look up into the night sky, but also an opportunity to see things from a completely different perspective.”
Courtesy of NREL.
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Newly published data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), reviewed by the SUN DAY Campaign, reveal that solar accounted for over 75% of US electrical generating capacity added in the first nine months of 2025. In September alone, solar provided 98% of new capacity, marking 25 consecutive months in which solar has led among all energy sources.
Year-to-date (YTD), solar and wind have each added more new capacity than natural gas has. The mix of all renewables remains on track to exceed 40% of installed capacity within three years; solar alone may be 20%.
Solar was 75% of new generating capacity YTD
In its latest monthly “Energy Infrastructure Update” report (with data through September 30, 2025), FERC says 48 “units” of solar totaling 2,014 megawatts (MW) were placed into service in September, accounting for 98% of all new generating capacity added during the month. Oil provided the balance (40 MW).
The 567 units of utility-scale (>1 MW) solar added during the first nine months of 2025 total 21,257 MW and were 75.3% of the total new capacity placed into service by all sources. Solar capacity added YTD is 6.5% more than that added during the same period a year earlier.
Solar has now been the largest source of new generating capacity added each month for 25 consecutive months, from September 2023 to September 2025. During that period, total utility-scale solar capacity grew from 91.82 gigawatts (GW) to 158.43 GW. No other energy source added anything close to that amount of new capacity. Wind, for example, expanded by 11.07 GW while natural gas’s net increase was just 4.60 GW.
Between January and September, new wind energy has provided 3,724 MW of capacity additions – an increase of 28.6% compared to the same period last year and more than the new capacity provided by natural gas (3,161 MW). Wind accounted for 13.2% of all new capacity added during the first nine months of 2025.
Renewables were 88% of new capacity added YTD
Wind and solar (plus 4 MW of hydropower and 6 MW of biomass) accounted for 88.5% of all new generating capacity while natural gas added just 11.2% YTD. The balance of net capacity additions came from oil (63 MW) and waste heat (17 MW).
Utility-scale solar’s share of total installed capacity (11.78%) is now virtually tied with that of wind (11.80%). If recent growth rates continue, utility-scale solar capacity should surpass that of wind in FERC’s next “Energy Infrastructure Update” report.
Taken together, wind and solar make up 23.58% of the US’s total available installed utility-scale generating capacity.
Moreover, more than 25% of US solar capacity is in the form of small-scale (e.g., rooftop) systems that are not reflected in FERC’s data. Including that additional solar capacity would bring the share provided by solar and wind to more than a quarter of the US total.
With the inclusion of hydropower (7.59%), biomass (1.05%) and geothermal (0.31%), renewables currently claim a 32.53% share of total US utility-scale generating capacity. If small-scale solar capacity is included, renewables now account for more than one-third of the total US generating capacity.
Solar soon to be No. 2 source of US generating capacity
FERC reports that net “high probability” net additions of solar between October 2025 and September 2028 total 90,614 MW – an amount almost four times the forecast net “high probability” additions for wind (23,093 MW), the second fastest growing resource.
FERC also foresees net growth for hydropower (566 MW) and geothermal (92 MW) but a decrease of 126 MW in biomass capacity.
Meanwhile, natural gas capacity is projected to expand by 6,667 MW, while nuclear power is expected to add just 335 MW. In contrast, coal and oil are projected to contract by 24,011 MW and 1,587 MW, respectively.
Taken together, the net new “high probability” net utility-scale capacity additions by all renewable energy sources over the next three years – the Trump administration’s remaining time in office – would total 114,239 MW. On the other hand, the installed capacity of fossil fuels and nuclear power combined would shrink by 18,596 MW.
Should FERC’s three-year forecast materialize, by mid-fall 2028, utility-scale solar would account for 17.3% of installed U.S. generating capacity, more than any other source besides natural gas (39.9%). Further, the capacity of the mix of all utility-scale renewable energy sources would exceed 38%. The inclusion of small-scale solar, assuming it retains its 25% share of all solar energy, could push solar’s share to over 20% and that of all renewables to over 41%, while the share of natural gas would drop to less than 38%.
In fact, the numbers for renewables could be significantly higher.
FERC notes that “all additions” (net) for utility-scale solar over the next three years could be as high as 232,487 MW, while those for wind could total 65,658 MW. Hydro’s net additions could reach 9,927 MW while geothermal and biomass could increase by 202 MW and 32 MW, respectively. Such growth by renewable sources would swamp that of natural gas (29,859 MW).
“In an effort to deny reality, the Trump Administration has just announced a renaming of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in which it has removed the word ‘renewable’,” noted the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director Ken Bossong. “However, FERC’s latest data show that no amount of rhetorical manipulation can change the fact that solar, wind, and other renewables continue on the path to eventual domination of the energy market.”
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The Century is considered the most luxurious Toyota, and now it’s being spun off into its own high-end brand. Despite the rumors, the ultra-luxury brand won’t be as electric as expected.
Toyota sets new luxury brand up to fail with ICE plans
First introduced in 1967, the Century was launched in celebration of Toyota’s founder, Sakichi Toyoda’s 100th birthday.
The Century has since become a symbol of status and wealth in Japan, often used as a chauffeur car by high-profile company officials.
Toyota previewed the future of the ultra-luxury marquee at the 2025 Japan Mobility Show in October, launching it as a new standalone brand positioned above Lexus.
The new Century brand is set to rival higher-end automakers like Rolls-Royce and Bentley, but it won’t be as electric as initially expected. Toyota’s powertrain boss, Takashi Uehara, told CarExpert that the luxury brand’s first vehicle will, in fact, have an internal combustion engine.
Although no other details were offered, Uehara confirmed, “Yes, it will have an engine.” As to what kind, that has yet to be decided, Toyota’s powertrain president explained.
Like the next-gen Lexus supercar and upcoming Toyota GR GT, Uehara said the Century model could include a V8 engine.
The Century has been Toyota’s only vehicle with a V12 engine. In 2018, Toyota dropped the V12 in favor of a V8 hybrid powertrain for its third-generation.
Toyota’s Century launched its first SUV in 2023, currently on sale in Japan with a V6 plug-in hybrid system alongside the sedan.
Already widely considered the biggest laggard in the shift to fully electric vehicles, Toyota doubled down, developing a series of new internal combustion engines for upcoming models.
Century is one of the five global brands the Japanese auto giant introduced in October, along with Daihatsu, GR Sport, Lexus, and Toyota.
Electrek’s Take
It’s not surprising to see Toyota sticking with ICE for its ultra-luxury Century brand, but it will likely be a costly move.
Chinese auto giants, such as BYD and FAW Group, are quickly expanding into new segments, including high-end models under luxury brands such as Yangwang and Hongqi.
These companies are now expanding into new overseas markets, like Europe and Southeast Asia, where Japanese brands like Toyota have traditionally dominated, to drive growth.
Top luxury brands, including Porsche, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, are already struggling to keep pace with Chinese EV brands. How does Toyota plan to compete with an “ultra-luxury” brand that still sells outdated ICE vehicles? We will find out more over the coming months and years as new sales data is released.
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SparkCharge has partnered with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) and Zipcar to launch the Northeast’s first off‑grid, mobile DC fast‑charging hub for shared EVs. The goal is to bring fast, reliable EV charging infrastructure into communities without having to wait for costly or slow grid upgrades.
The hub sits at Zipcar’s maintenance facility in East Boston, an Environmental Justice community. It’s funded through MassCEC’s InnovateMass program and gives onsite mechanics the ability to quickly recharge a rotating fleet of Zipcar EVs before they’re dispatched across Greater Boston. Members and rideshare drivers who rent Zipcars will get steadier access to charged EVs.
“Electrification should never be limited by where the grid is or how long it takes,” SparkCharge founder and CEO Joshua Aviv said. “With this program in East Boston, we’re showing how fleets can deploy at scale, in any community, and deliver clean mobility today.”
At the center of the setup is SparkCharge’s Mobile Battery‑Powered Trailer, which delivers 320 kW of DC fast charging without the delays and big price tags that usually come with fixed infrastructure. The trailer can recharge from Zipcar’s existing onsite power between sessions, topping up its high‑capacity batteries without stressing the local grid. Since it avoids major grid upgrades entirely, the model is designed to deploy quickly and at zero upfront cost for fleets.
MassCEC says the project shows what community‑first fast charging can look like. “Every resident deserves access to clean, reliable transportation,” said Leslie Nash, MassCEC’s senior director of Technology‑to‑Market. “By partnering with SparkCharge and Zipcar in East Boston, we’re showing how Massachusetts is leading the way in clean transportation innovation.”
The hub also plays into Massachusetts’ push to hit its net‑zero 2050 targets. As shared mobility grows, electrifying fleets will be key to cutting emissions in dense urban corridors. This project introduces a scalable charging option to a part of Boston that is underserved by public charging, helping to keep Zipcar’s EVs reliably on the road.
“For twenty‑five years, Zipcar has been a leader in shared mobility, and we’re proud to take another step toward a more sustainable future,” said Angelo Adams, Zipcar’s president. “Working with SparkCharge and MassCEC allows us to bring fast, reliable EV charging directly to our members and rideshare drivers.”
Zipcar, which is owned by car rental company Avis Budget, announced on December 1 that it was shutting down its UK operations by December 31, 2025. An Avis Budget spokesperson stated that the reason was “to streamline operations, improve returns, and position the company for long-term sustainability and growth,” adding that “all other markets remain unaffected.”
Read more: With a $30M raise, SparkCharge takes EV fleet charging off-grid
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Your personalized heat pump quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here. – *ad
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
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