Paul Warley, CEO of Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. ASTI, was recently a guest on Benzinga's All-Access. Ascent reports it is a leading provider of a highly flexible, efficient form of solar panels known as GIGS. The company has cemented its position in the manufacturing of these innovative, high-performance, flexible thin-film solar panels for space and aerospace applications. Mr. Warley spoke about how his company's technology is being integrated into exciting space missions.
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00:00And it is my pleasure to welcome in the CEO of Ascent Solar Technologies, Paul Worley.
00:09Fantastic to be with you today, Paul.
00:12Pleasure to be with you, Dan.
00:15The honor and pleasure is all mine as well.
00:17Let's start with this, Paul.
00:18Can you give us an overview of Ascent?
00:22Sure.
00:23We were started over 20 years ago inside of a conglomerate.
00:30They decided to spin us off, and that's when we went public approximately 20 years ago.
00:37We were originally formed to go on the back of cell phones, and we had a foldable array
00:45so you could take camping and other things.
00:49And that was kind of the cell phone side of things.
00:54Cell phones kept rising in how much power they needed.
00:58And then going camping, our product is still far superior to anything coming out of China,
01:03but stuff coming out of China is very expensive, or sort of very cheap.
01:07Ours is more expensive, but theirs is made out of silicon, and it doesn't hold up very
01:13well, but people prefer to buy the cheaper version.
01:17Boy, have times changed, by the way, when it comes to the way the cell phones, technology,
01:21everything.
01:22So it really is fascinating.
01:23And, you know, let's talk about why your technology is competitive.
01:27Help us understand SIG's design and your monolithic integration process.
01:31Okay.
01:32I'm going to do it real simply.
01:35We'll do it through this.
01:36That's our process.
01:37It unrolls like Christmas paper.
01:41We're by far the thinnest product.
01:43We are the most flexible product.
01:46And so ours is one continuous manufacturing process with a plastic film.
01:55And then we scribe it through laser to create the current, whereas Crystalline is individual
02:01cells which are put together.
02:06I love when a gas brings props.
02:10You're already winning me over that.
02:12Now this is cool.
02:13How is your tech used by spacecraft, Bob?
02:16Okay.
02:17So we are either used to power satellites.
02:25The reason they would use our product is we're much lighter, and that reduces their launch
02:32cost to put it into air dramatically.
02:36Especially if you're going to moon and to Mars, those launch costs are incredibly expensive.
02:43No, they definitely are.
02:45I'd love to know as well, Paul, about your collaborations with Momentus and the University
02:51of Stuttgart Institute for Building Energetics, Thermotechnology, and Energy Storage as well.
02:57Sure.
02:58We teamed up with Momentus, and they used us inside their TASA product.
03:04It basically rolls the solar array up.
03:09We were chosen based on our flexibility, and we successfully rolled out and were functional
03:18in space.
03:20With the University of Stuttgart, it was very interesting.
03:24They had two glass tubes, one about that big and the other one about that big.
03:30Our product was used in two different ways.
03:33A, we generated auxiliary power for a home, and then we also, because heat is put off
03:46by our flexible panels, it also heated the water that was going through the pipes.
03:53This would be used in residential or a small commercial building.
03:59That's absolutely fascinating stuff.
04:01Now I've got to get to the billion-dollar question.
04:03Can your technology, Paul, help us get to Mars?
04:06I want to go to Mars.
04:07Can it help us get there?
04:08Okay.
04:09I'll try to do that as quickly as possible.
04:15There's two ways to potentially get to Mars.
04:19You can go to the moon and launch from the moon and use the moon's geographical, I mean,
04:26sorry, centrifugal force to then launch to Mars.
04:30Or you can go via space and refuel and then supply your aircraft that are going, or spacecraft
04:43that are going to Mars.
04:45And so you resupply them with fuel and that.
04:48So where we would be used on the moon is we would be used to help power electricity on
04:57the moon.
04:58Or if you're going to Mars, you have these fuel storage or resupply ships, depots, vessels,
05:07whatever you want to call it, and there's wild swings in temperature.
05:15So the temperature then is, in order to cool fuel, you have to cool fuel, or otherwise
05:23those depots would explode.
05:26And also you would probably want to keep whatever you're storing at a more reasonable
05:31temperature on the heat end too, so you'd want to cool that.
05:36So that's basically how we play in going to Mars or going to the moon.
05:42I love it.
05:44Things like that give us hope that it's within reach very, very soon.
05:48And Paul, obviously we know we just had an administration change here in the United States.
05:53How will this market change as this new administration takes the reins?
05:57It's very clear the administration is already hard at work in a couple of different areas.
06:08Some projects we were applying for, they reduced the amount of information we're having to
06:12give, which is great, so they're reducing that.
06:15And they're pushing going to Mars very, very hard.
06:25It's very clear that that's already switched over.
06:30We're looking at different mechanisms to power things in space, whether it's solar, beaming,
06:40or whatever.
06:41A lot of different ways to help get to Mars more quickly.
06:45Well, it was an absolute pleasure talking with you today, Paul.
06:48Thank you so much for your time.
06:51Thank you, Dan.
06:52I appreciate it.