Australian solar innovator SunDrive joins homegrown bid to make spacecraft-integrated PV

Résumé détaillé

The collaboration will use SunDrive’s copper-metallised solar cell technology to establish an Australian-made source of PV arrays specially made for spacecraft.

Two New South Wales-based technology innovators have joined forces to create low-cost and lightweight solar panels that can be mounted on spacecraft and used to power them.

Space Machines Company (SMC), a Botany-based manufacturer of space hardware and software, and SunDrive Solar, a South Sydney-based solar technology company, announced on Tuesday that they had started a research and development collaboration to design, build and test solar panels for spacecraft.

The collaboration will combine SunDrive’s copper-metallised solar cell technology with SMC’s expertise in spacecraft structures, thermal engineering, and integration, to establish an Australian-made source of solar arrays for spacecraft.

According to the two companies, solar arrays remain one of the most critical and expensive parts of any spacecraft, with Australian satellite programs currently reliant on imported space-grade arrays, limiting both cost and supply.

But the two companies believe there is an opportunity to create lower-cost, locally developed solar arrays priced for spacecraft built and deployed at scale – an opportunity that reduce reliance on overseas suppliers and strengthen Australia’s sovereign space manufacturing base.

The first phase of the collaboration will run through to April 2027 and will produce a body-mounted solar panel for SMC’s next-generation Optimus Viper spacecraft, along with prototype flight-sized panels.

Subsequent phases will be decided upon following the successful completion of this first phase, and will likely aim at a flight-ready deployable solar array for SMC’s future spacecraft, as well as for the wider satellite market.

The body-mounted panel will go through the required environmental testing, including thermal-vacuum and vibration testing, and will produce the engineering and performance data necessary to progress a flight-ready product.

“This collaboration began because two Australian companies saw a commercial reason to work together,” said Rajat Kulshrestha…

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