Source

Turns out, you won’t find a standard 72-cell silicon solar panel on any NASA spacecraft. The missions are too long and the environment is too harsh—alternating between extreme heat and extreme cold, flush with radioactivity—for terrestrial solar. As a result, NASA Glenn, in conjunction with the larger tech and university communities, has developed solar cells that can survive long-term use in space.

Sign up for a weekly digest of solar industry news, delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.