Project Liftoff: Solar Power in Space

Project Liftoff: Solar Power in Space. . Vanguard 1: America's First Solar-Powered Satellite , NASA began utilizing solar power to provide renewable energy to its space crafts as early as the 1950s. In 1958, the grapefruit-sized Vanguard 1 became the world's first solar-powered satellite. Vanguard 1's six primitive solar cells generated one total watt of energy, which allowed the satellite to send radio orbital data to Earth from outer space for more than six years., Skylab: America's First Space Station , Skylab, the first American space station, was launched in 1973. Like Vanguard 1, Skylab relied on solar power to enable astronauts to live in outer space for an extended period of time. Skylab hosted astronauts for three missions of 28, 59 and 84 consecutive days. A training artifact of Skylab's Orbital Workshop, along with the station's solar array, can be found on display in the Davidson Center for Space Exploration., International Space Station: Harnessing the Sun , The soccer field-sized International Space Station (ISS) is outfitted with eight solar arrays to harness the sun's energy. Each solar array is 112 feet long by 39 feet wide, is made up of 30,000 solar cells and can produce 120 kilowatts of energy. That is enough renewable energy to power 40 houses! The station uses solar energy to power the astronauts' research and living quarters. Similar to Project Liftoff, the ISS stores solar energy in the station's batteries to maintain power when it falls within the Earth's orbital shadow. , Images courtesy of NASA