NASA probe was sent to space earlier this month on a mission to Jupiter with help from a solar panel company known for its success in the mission to Mars.

SolAero Technologies (SolAero) is a company who creates solar cells to be used in satellites. According to their website, they have over 840 satellites in orbit powered by their technology. In April 2021, they made history by powering the first successful flight to Mars and now, their solar cells are being used in NASA’s Mission Lucy. 

Lucy is a NASA space probe launched 16th October 2021 on a 12 year journey towards seven of Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids, which follow the same orbit around the sun as Jupiter. It was selected, alongside Psyche Mission, in 2017 for NASA’s discovery project. 

“SolAero is extremely proud to be a part of this history-making flight and supporting it with the highest performance solar panels available,” said CEO of SolAero Technologies, Brad Clevenger.

SolAero, who is at the forefront of high efficiency solar cells for the use in satellites, is using their triple junction JTJ solar cells to power a space probe to travel to Jupiter in hopes to research these asteroids to gain a better understanding of the planet’s origin and the formation of our solar system. 

“Today’s historical flight solidifies SolAero’s position as a key supplier for space grade solar panels for NASA Exploration Missions,” said Navid Fatemi, Vice President of SolAero. “The IMM ultra-efficiency solar cells that are powering the Mars Helicopter are a unique technology space qualified and in volume production only at SolAero.”

SolAero’s ZTJ solar cells have been proven to show superior performance under demanding Low Intensity sunlight and Low Temperature which is perfect for Lucy’s mission. SolAero has powered 20 successful missions using the Ultra flex Solar Array technology.