Materials on the International Space Station Experiment-5, Forward Technology Solar Cell Experiment: First On-Orbit Data

First on-orbit data from the forward technology solar cell experiment (FTSCE) are presented. FTSCE is housed within the 5
^th
Materials on the International Space Station Experiment (MISSE-5), and currently resides on the exterior of the ISS. A range of solar cell technologies are included in the experiment including triple junction (3J) InGaP/GaAs/Ge solar cells from several vendors, thin film amorphous Si and CuIn(Ga)Se
₂
cells, and next-generation technologies like single-junction GaAs cells grown on Si wafers and metamorphic InGaP/InGaAs/Ge triple-junction cells. Measured current vs. voltage (IV) curves from on- board experiments are analyzed. All of the solar cell technologies are showing nominal performance with no obvious signs of degradation