The Spectrolab XTJ Prime space solar cells are the same as those used in Boeing’s CST Starliner and have an efficiency of more than 30 percent. Boeing will start sending six of them to the ISS in 2021 to increase 20-30 percent the power at the space station.
The new 63ft-by-20ft (19m-by-6m) arrays will together produce more than 120 kilowatts of electricity (enough to power more than 40 average US homes).
Spectrolab, a Boeing company, also produced the station’s original cells. However, the structure of the new arrays will be produced by US-based Deployable Space Systems.
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