South Korea’s Flexell Space has been selected as the lead organization for a large-scale national R&D project focused on low‑cost, high‑efficiency space perovskite tandem solar modules.
Image by Flexell Space
The three‑year project, funded with a total budget of around KRW 10.7 billion (about US$7 million), aims to develop next‑generation thin‑film tandem devices and validate their performance and reliability in real space environments.
Flexell Space is a space‑solar specialist originating as an in‑house venture of Hanwha Systems, and is known for ultra‑light, flexible CIGS/perovskite tandem solar cells designed to replace traditional III‑V space PV. The company recently completed a pilot manufacturing facility in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, equipped with an ISO 6 cleanroom, perovskite production line and a space‑environment solar simulator capable of AM0 testing from −150°C to +150°C. According to Flexell, this pilot line can already supply cells for large satellites and is intended to scale to multi‑million‑unit annual output by 2027.
The new national project, run under Korea’s energy technology development program, will develop perovskite–CIGS tandem modules optimized for space, including high power‑to‑weight ratios and radiation‑resistant architectures. Flexell will coordinate a consortium including leading domestic research institutes, with goals that reportedly span device architecture, process integration on ultra‑light substrates, and in‑orbit validation on satellites and other platforms. This builds on earlier work in which Flexell and the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) demonstrated flexible CIGS/perovskite dual‑junction solar cells with efficiencies above 23%, and secured a KRW 5.5 billion technology transfer agreement for the underlying CIGS process technology.
Flexell’s tandem perovskite/CIGS devices are already scheduled for multiple space demonstrations, including CubeSat missions and tests on the International Space Station and in geostationary orbit. The company has also signed collaboration agreements with major space players such as Airbus Defense and Space to co‑develop next‑generation lightweight modules based on its tandem architecture. The new national R&D program is expected to further strengthen South Korea’s position in space photovoltaics, while providing Flexell with a route from pilot production to mass deployment of perovskite‑based tandem technology in the global space market.
