Flown Cells from Hubble Space Telescope Solar Panels

Flown Cells from Hubble Space Telescope Solar Panels

The solar cells were retrieved from the Hubble Space Telescope during a servicing mission in 1993. They are two of the 50,000 individual solar cells that covered the two original 12 metre solar arrays. Each wing-like array converts the Sun’s energy into electricity to power Hubble’s scientific instruments. On-board batteries can store energy so the telescope can operate in Earth’s shadow. In orbit 569 kilometres above the Earth, Hubble experiences sun rise and set every 96 minutes.

Hubble was designed to be serviced and updated while in orbit. The solar cells are particularly sensitive to radiation and oxygen erosion and therefore inevitably degrade over time. The mission in 1993 was the first planned maintenance on the telescope since its launch in 1990. During the mission the solar arrays were replaced with new ones and one of the original arrays was taken back to Earth.

The retrieved solar array displayed thousands of tiny impacts from micrometeoroids and human-made space debris. Despite being only tiny in size, micrometeoroids travel at extremely high velocities and have the potential to cause considerable damage to spacecraft. We can see examples of micrometeoroid impact craters on the two cells here.