Breakthrough Solar, with Stan Herasimenka (Solestial)

Did you ever think that solar power generation in space could be 10x cheaper, 20% more efficient, and extend operational life to over 50 years? Well, that’s what the Arizona-based startup Solestial believes it can achieve with its silicon cell technology. We bring in CEO and cofounder Stan Herasimenka for his first-ever podcast to discuss the unique challenges and differences between terrestrial and space solar cells, and the technological advancements his company is making to produce radiation-hardened, thin, and flexible solar cells for space use.Stan and Mo also cover:Market potential for solar technologyReengineering long-established technologySolestial’s business model and scaling plansFuture trends in space solarAnd much more…• Chapters •00:00 - Intro00:36 - What are you building?00:59 - What prompted Stan to start Solestial?01:57 - Terrestrial vs extraterrestrial solar cells05:10 - How long would a terrestrial solar cell last in space?08:27 - Who are the main players?11:02 - What is III-V?12:25 - Supply/demand gap16:03 - Core product offering18:26 - What is the reason not to have a turnkey solution?19:53 - Cost of activeness vs COTS23:40 - Target cost of cells24:30 - Why would a customer pay more for a premium solar cell?27:37 - Self-curing radiation damage30:52 - Perovskite cells33:20 - Manufacturing and scaling36:18 - Where is Solestial based?37:01 - Customer traction38:39 - Team makeup40:18 - Financing plans?41:51 - When will Solestial have their first array in space?43:13 - What does Stan do when he's not talking about solar cells?44:09 - Other companies Stan is excited about • Show notes •Solestial’s website — https://solestial.com/Stan’s socials — https://www.linkedin.com/in/stan-herasimenka-5932561b/Mo's socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislamPayload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspacePathfinder archive — Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@payloadspace Pathfinder archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/episodes • About us •Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 19,000+ commercial, civil, and military space leaders. Payload is read by decision-makers at every leading new space company, along with c-suite leaders at all of the aerospace & defense primes. We’re also read on Capitol Hill, in the Pentagon, and at space agencies around the world.Payload began as a weekly email sent to a few friends and coworkers. Today, we’re a team distributed across four time zones and two continents, publishing five media properties across multiple platforms:1) Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, sends M-F @ 9am Eastern2) Pathfinder publishes weekly on Tuesday mornings (pod.payloadspace.com)3) Parallax, our weekly space science briefing, hits inboxes Thursday4) Polaris, our weekly policy briefing, publishes weekly on Tuesdays 5) Payload Research, our weekly research and analysis piece,  comes out on WednesdaysYou can sign up for all of our publications here: https://payloadspace.com/subscribe/