Inflatable Solar Arrays
Solar concentrators are parabolic mirrors which focus sunlight’s intensity onto a small spot, much like satellite dishes. This increases the light and/or heat onto a small area, which means you can have either a smaller solar cell (like is used in this design), or the ability to harness the sun’s heat to generate power (as seen here).
This particular advancement replaces the heavy and expensive polished metallic mirror collectors with lightweight, inflatable collectors. The cost savings from using lightweight materials could add a big advantage for solar energy harvesting. In addition, the concept of making useful structures out of inflatable units seems to be growing in popularity lately.
