Telstar solar cell
date: label: Date made
content: c1962
label: date made
content: ca 1962
name: label: maker
content: Bell Laboratories
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Batteries provide electric power reliably but have limited life, making them impractical for long missions in space. So when engineers at Bell Labs designed the Telstar communications satellites, they used 3600 solar cells to generate the 14 watts needed to operate the satellite. Twelve silicon cells were mounted in a platinum frame set on a ceramic base and covered with a sapphire plate to make a strip like this one.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Telstar solar cell; "11-24" penciled on back. #3 of 4 units, each weights 0.8 oz and is made with two assemblies: the cover (sapphire plate brazed into a platinum frame) and the solar cell (silicon cells shingled to provide a series connection and mounted on a ceramic plate). The two units are joined by soldering the cover assembly to the cell assembly along the edges of the ceramic plate. Cells are designed to be sensitive to the blue-green region of the spectrum. Reference: Bell System Technical Journal 4, part 3 (July 1963), 1765-1816.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: See more items in
content: Energy & Power
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from American Telephone & Telegraph
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.322974.03
label: accession number
content: 247512
label: catalog number
content: 322794.03
objectType: label: Object Name
content: solar cell
label: Object Name
content: Photovoltaic module
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 3/32 in x 7/8 in x 1/4 in; 10.38225 cm x 2.2225 cm x .635 cm