SPECTROLAB EXPANDS MARKET TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED FOR SPACE FINDS FANS ON EARTH.Byline: JULIA M. SCOTT Staff Writer SYLMAR -- Fifty years after Spectrolab started experimenting with solar panels that would someday some·day adv. At an indefinite time in the future. Usage Note: The adverbs someday and sometime express future time indefinitely: We'll succeed someday. Come sometime. power moon exploration, the aerospace firm is coming down to Earth. The company, a Boeing subsidiary, had made photovoltaic The generation of voltage by a material that is exposed to light in the visible and invisible ranges. See photoelectric and photovoltaic cell. products that convert sunlight into electricity. Most of its products are built for outer space, but the terrestial market for solar power is booming. ``Our core business is space, to make space products to support (Boeing's) core business,'' said president David Lillington Tuesday during a press conference. ``But we see terrestrial photovoltaic use as a huge opportunity.'' A quarter of the company's business is devoted to earthly earth·ly adj. 1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of this earth. 2. a. Terrestrial; not heavenly or divine: earthly existence. b. products, which is a quarter more than last year, Lillington said. And while Spectrolab's solar cells solar cell, semiconductor devised to convert light to electric current. It is a specially constructed diode, usually made of silicon crystal. When light strikes the exposed active surface, it knocks electrons loose from their sites in the crystal. are much more costly than industry- standard silicon, they are more powerful. Spectrolab uses a metal called gallium-arsenide, which holds up well in space but is much more sturdier than it needs to be for use in cell phones, computers and the solar panels attached to your neighbor's roof. Gallium-arsenide is 200 times more costly than silicon, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Spectrolab spokesman David Garlick. But gallium-arsenide absorbs sunlight more quickly. A standard cell converts 28 percent of the sunlight that hits it into electricity, Lillington said. In 10 years Spectrolab aims to make solar cells that convert 40 percent of the sun's energy. A typical silicon cell converts 16 percent of the sun's rays. Making powerful cells is the key to affordability because the more sunlight they can convert, the fewer panels consumers need to buy. ``The cost has been reduced substantially with that higher efficiency,'' said Dan Blake, director of the Economic Research Center of the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. at California State University, Northridge CSUN offers a variety of programs leading to bachelor's degrees in 61 fields and master's degrees in 42 fields. The university has over 150,000 alumni. It's also home to a summer musical theater/theater program known as TADW (TeenAge Drama Workshop) that leads teenagers through an . Solar power and other alternative forms of energy will become more cost-effective as the price of oil rises, Blake added. That is good news for Spectrolab, which also has positive prospects in space. ``Spending on space is coming to life,'' said Mary Anne Sudol, an aerospace analyst with Caris & Company. Spectrolab was founded in 1956 by Alfred Mann, a scientist from Portland, Ore. The lab grew quickly and logged a number of accomplishments early on. The company's solar panels powered the satellite that took the first pictures of Earth from space. The company's solar panels were used on the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, when astronaut astronaut, crew member on a U.S. manned spaceflight mission; the Soviet term is cosmonaut. Candidates for manned spaceflight are carefully screened to meet the highest physical and mental standards, and they undergo rigorous training. Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. Today, the company's solar panels power two Mars rovers A Mars rover is an unmanned rover used for exploration of the planet Mars. They are deployed because it has so far been too costly and difficult to achieve a manned mission to Mars, and because probes and satellites are too limited (due to their immobility or their distance from , Spirit and Opportunity, and Spectrolab makes more spacecraft solar cells than anyone else. ``The space side of our business is doing well and will continue to do well,'' Lillington said. ``I believe we're very well positioned to maintain our leadership.'' julia.scott(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3735 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Jim Hanley shows off a panel built for a satellite at Spectrolab, which has been developing solar power for 50 years. Andy Holzman/Staff Photo |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion