Project financing – 100 million rubles per year
Russian universities received a grant to develop solar panels for space. The project will involve the Federal Research Center for Problems of Chemical Physics and Medical Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, UrFU, the Institute of Synthetic Polymer Materials of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Moscow Institute of Electronics and Mathematics of the Higher School of Economics. A grant of 100 million rubles per year is intended for carrying out large scientific projects in 2024-2026.
The panels that Russian scientists will create must be light, flexible, resistant to solar radiation and low temperatures. The panels must have high efficiency and energy efficiency, as well as durability: last at least 20 years in low-Earth orbits. In Moscow they will work on the creation of new materials, plastic-based thin-film modules and batteries. UrFU task — investigate the radiation resistance of panels and batteries to different types of radiation.
A prototype of solar panels will be tested in space: it will be sent to low Earth orbit on a small spacecraft. Such batteries can be used not only in space, they will also find application on Earth in regions with extreme natural conditions — for example, in the Arctic or in hot climates where conventional batteries do not work.