A deployed Spectrolab-produced solar wing. Photo: Boeing.

[Via Satellite 12-03-2014] Spectrolab, a solar cell company purchased by Boeing in 2000, has manufactured its 4 millionth gallium arsenide-based solar cell for space. Collectively, these cells have powered more than 380 spacecraft flights. Hundreds of spacecraft, as well as the International Space Station (ISS), have used Spectrolab solar cells.

Spectrolab is currently developing a new solar cell wafer expected to reduce customer costs by up to 15 percent. The new larger solar cell has room for more than three times as many cells per wafer. Spectrolab has upgraded its factory with a new clean room facility and material handling equipment to create a new 150-millimeter solar cell wafer line.