News: Photovoltaics
20 June 2025
Ascent signs master services agreement to provide NOVI Space with rollable PV array blankets
Ascent Solar Technologies Inc of Thornton, CO, USA – which designs and makes lightweight, flexible copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules that can be integrated into consumer products, off-grid applications and aerospace applications – has signed a master services agreement with NOVI Space Inc, a Virginia-based space AI infrastructure & compute company that develops and operates AI-powered satellites with their TRL-9 edge computing technology.
Ascent has been contracted to provide rollable PV array blankets to NOVI to deliver real-time Earth observation insights directly from space. NOVI plans to utilize the lightweight, rollable solar technology in their AI edge processing constellation, scheduled for launch in early 2026.
As part of the supply agreement, NOVI will provide Ascent with solar array operational performance data from orbit. This allows it to rapidly iterate and validate product enhancements for future missions and continue to build on years of R&D and specialty engineering for products suitable to thrive in the rigors of space.
“Having a high technology-readiness level [TRL] isn’t enough assurance for discerning space operators, a challenge that Ascent can uniquely address with our thin-film photovoltaic production solutions,” says Ascent’s CEO Paul Warley. “The ability to reliably deliver power on shorter installation timelines removes solar arrays as a barrier to completion for mission schedules, allowing constellations of spacecraft to be completed sooner. Ascent combines both high TRL and MRL with mission-enabling features, helping partners like NOVI to do more, faster and with greater confidence.”
Ascent has the capabilities to deliver mission-optimized solar array solutions based on CIGS PV products already developed with spaceflight heritage. Manufactured in its 5MW production facility, its high-maturity CIGS PV products enable delivery of arrays in just 6–8 weeks, versus market competition that typically struggles to meet aggressive delivery schedules and strives for 9–12 month lead times, Ascent claims. Its recent pair of orders received for spaceflight hardware assemblies are on schedule to be completed and delivered this summer.
“We are glad to have found a partner in Ascent that is able to provide plug-and-play arrays for our current bus, enabling NOVI to launch its first set of commercial satellites in first-quarter 2026,” says NOVI Space’s chief revenue officer & co-founder Scott Steffan.
Ascent gains order to revise space PV module design for receiving beamed power
