Most people in the Northeast Valley have no idea that a high-tech facility that is involved in some of the most significant space travel has been operating right in their own backyard.
Spectrolab has been operating in Sylmar since 1956 when it was founded by local physicist and entrepreneur Alfred Mann. It was acquired by Hughes Aircraft Company in 1975 and bought by Boeing in 2000. The facility is one of three solar cell manufacturers in the world – cultivating robust cells from raw materials that convert light into energy and then constructing solar panels built to withstand the harshest conditions of deep space.
The cells have been key to powering U.S. space missions for the past six decades – from the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing to NASA Mars Rovers and the Explorer 6 satellite that took the first photograph of Earth in 1959.
Today, the company continues to use its coveted solar cell technology to power leading space exploration missions and satellites that provide connectivity for our telecommunications networks – cell phones, computers, televisions and medical devices.
NASA is currently in the midst of its Artemis program, where it plans to send humans to the lunar south pole of the moon by 2025 and eventually establish a permanent presence there. The ultimate goal of the program is to send humans to Mars.
But the target date is still a way off, and preparations still need to be taken before the mission is officially underway. That’s where Spectrolab’s solar technology comes in.
Paving the Way for Space Exploration
The lab has built three solar panels for Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 mission to send its lunar lander – called Odysseus – to the south pole of the moon. With a target launch window of Jan. 12, 2024, the robotic lander will carry scientific and engineering instruments to the moon to study the environment and find landing sites for the eventual arrival of humans.
Although the IM-1 mission is designed for just two weeks of lunar surface operation, the panels are made to last as long as 15 to 20 years in space. While on the moon, these panels are built to withstand harsh conditions, like temperature fluctuations of -180 degrees to 150 degrees Celsius, and produce more than 800 watts of power.
Spectrolab has also been contracted to build solar panels for two more similar missions, IM-2 – which have already been delivered – and IM-3 – which are currently being built.
Living on the Moon
Spectrolab President and CEO Miquelle Milavec showed the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol an artist’s rendition of what a possible habitat on the moon could look like and explained how Spectrolab plays a part in that future.
“Those habitats might be temporary as we explore further and further out into outer space, or they might be permanent where we actually have communities that live in outer space, but you’ll need power to do that,” Milavec said. “We intend to be that supplier of choice and are working on a lot of missions to enable things like this in the future.”
And one of those missions is developing solar arrays for the International Space Station. These roll-out solar arrays, or IROSAs, will be used to augment the station’s power supply. Spectrolab has already built and delivered three pairs of arrays – they were installed in June 2021, December 2022 and June of this year – and the last pair is expected to be delivered in 2025.
The arrays were not only built to be durable, but the flexible roll-out design also makes them more compact and easier to transport – allowing for the use of smaller spacecrafts when delivering the panels and cutting the cost per pound to launch future missions.
The technology also makes the IROSAs more efficient than those already powering the station. Each wing provides more than 20 kilowatts of electricity. Once all eight IROSA wings are deployed, they will provide more than 160 kilowatts for 10 years – enough electricity to power 100 homes. The six arrays themselves boost the station’s energy by 30%.
“Everything that we’re a part of is some of the most cutting-edge [technology] that’s going on in humanity, and I think that’s really exciting for us to be able to work on,” said Milavec. “Our team is constantly working with either the government or other sources of funding to do R&D and to make sure that our technology is keeping up or even ahead of what it might be used for.”
Imitating the Power of the Sun
If you ever saw a police helicopter shine a spotlight and thought to yourself, “That light seems brighter than a normal light,” you would be correct. These lights use special technology developed by Spectrolab that is designed to mimic the sun.
Spectrolab, at its core, is an energy and light company. While the solar cells harness light into power, their other product, searchlights, harness power to emit light.
“Early on in our history when we were testing our solar cells for efficacy, efficiency [and] quality, we had to develop a light source technology that mimics the sun, and the way that our solar cells would experience light in outer space,” said Milavec. “And so that technology we encapsulated and commercialized and ended up selling that as a product to the aerospace community in the form of searchlights.”
The technology was commercialized into more powerful and robust searchlight products that can illuminate a larger area, which are now used on Los Angeles Police Department and Fire Department helicopters. The searchlights have also been utilized by search and rescue missions and military crafts around the world, including India’s Chinook helicopters.
Boeing has long been globally producing and supplying military-grade equipment and has had a close relationship with the U.S. government since the First World War. Recently, Boeing has been criticized by pro-Palestinian groups because of a 2021 contract with Israel to supply 1,000 small-diameter bombs that are now being used in Gaza.
Although Spectrolab only produces lighting and energy-related equipment, its technology is highly involved in national security projects.
“There’s a lot of national security missions happening in space and Spectrolab powers them,” said Zeyad Maasarani, Boeing space mission systems spokesperson.
According to Spectrolab representatives, Boeing and Spectrolab often hire veterans due to the nature of having high-level security projects as well as the technical and mechanical training that the military often provides.
Connecting with the Local Community
Spectrolab employs approximately 250 people on its team, about 50% of whom live in the San Fernando Valley. Milavec said that there are generations of families that work at the site, which she explained creates a sense of community at the site. And that sense of community extends to its outreach.
“We want to make sure that we have a pipeline of skilled folks coming into the company, so we also work with high schools, with STEM nonprofits – DIY Girls is one that we worked with a lot, the LA Discovery Cube is another entity we work with a lot – because those types of entities inspire the next generation of high technical skilled workers,” Milavec explained. “We send folks out to go attend events with them that represent us and share what these young kids could be when they grow up.”
Susana Gomez, associate director of marketing and communications at DIY Girls, believes that having a model and career path so close to home has tremendous benefits for the confidence of the girls and gender-expansive youth in their program.
“It’s really helpful for them [our students] to see people that look like them within these [STEM] fields,” said Gomez. “Maybe they haven’t seen somebody in their family working within these fields. So being able to have the opportunity to meet these women that work for Spectrolab, and then possibly seeing themselves in them, it’s really beneficial for them to know that they’re able to do that when they grow up.”
It also helps that several of the top positions at Spectrolab are held by women, given how often men usually take up these roles.
“Our president and CEO is a woman. Her deputy, our VP [vice president] of solar products, is a woman. Her boss, who is Boeing’s vice president of space systems, is a woman. And her boss – the vice president and general manager of space, intelligence and weapons systems – is a woman,” explained Maasarani. “So we’re seeing a great representation of women in STEM, in Boeing’s space business and we’re seeing a microcosm of that here today at Spectrolab.”
Spectrolab isn’t looking just to employ engineers and physicists. Milavec explained that they hire from a wide range of educational backgrounds and a four-year degree isn’t necessary. She said that employees are putting together these solar panels who have a two-year degree or a high school diploma.
“Our products are very delicate. So a lot of the people we have working on these products have to have a very, very, delicate touch and it takes a lot of skill. So it’s not like maybe more of the heavy factory jobs you would think about,” said Rebecca Zell, a process engineer at Spectrolab.
“You don’t have to be a tall, burly man to be in the manufacturing of solar cells. And I think that is what also attracts a lot of our talent, is that they have skills that are traversable. [We can have] someone who’s really good at sewing, for example, or really good at putting puzzles together,” Milavec said. “On the [assembly] floor, you have to lay wires down very intricately, solder very small pieces of metal together, so there’s a lot of transferable skills that you might not think about when you think about manufacturing.”
Zell surmised that the majority of her team that work on the factory floor have lived in the surrounding neighborhoods of Sylmar, Pacoima and San Fernando for their entire lives.
“So you might come from a small community like Sylmar, but the work you do powers [technology] internationally,” said Milavec.