ASTI (Ascent Solar Technologies) is making a powerful move up the charts after the Company announced it has been selected by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for participation in two upcoming flight demonstrations – the Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and anTenna (LISA-T) project and the Solar Cruiser solar sail project. The Solar Cruiser mission will fly a small spacecraft with a large (>1,600 square meter) solar sail. The upcoming LISA-T demonstration, part of NASA’s Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator 4 CubeSat slated for launch in 2022, will also include Ascent’s flexible CIGS as part of its further photovoltaic experiment. Ascent Solar working with Marshall and NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate’s investments in development of LISA-T and MISSE-X flight experiments represented significant milestones for ASTI, and prepares the Company’s proprietary PV technology to be elevated to Technology Readiness Level 7 (TRL7) for future missions.”
Over the past few months ASTI has seen a parabolic rise up the charts from well under a penny to recent highs of $0.097 per share. The stock has quickly attracted legions of new shareholders and is transforming into a volume leader in small caps trading $35 million in dollar volume on Monday alone. ASTI is quickly emerging as the darling of small caps ever since the Company received a $2.5 million investment from Bernd Fortsch via Crowdex and TubeSolar AG, a well-known German entrepreneur worth hundreds of millions of euros who has now become the controlling shareholder. Mr. Fortsch has quickly brought on a top-level management team of major international executives including Michael Gilbreth as CFO and Will Clarke as class 2 director. ASTI is ex Nasdaq and as we have reported many times these ex big boards have a long history of historic moves once trading in small caps especially the OTC bulletin board. ASTI an early pioneer in Flexible Solar Modules could not be in a stronger position as Solar Energy is currently seeing an enormous global boost.
ASTI (Ascent Solar Technologies) operating out of Thornton, Colorado is the developer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art, lightweight and flexible thin-film photovoltaic (PV) solutions. Ascent Solar develops and manufactures its cutting-edge CIGS (Copper-Indium-Gallium-Selenide) photovoltaic technology on a flexible, plastic substrate. These panels are designed to convert sunlight into electric power by laying a thin layer of these four elements onto a plastic backing. As a leader in the CIGS field, Ascent is the only manufacturer commercially producing CIGS solar on a plastic substrate with monolithic integration, a key differentiator that puts ASTI ahead of all other solar manufacturers. Unlike traditional solar, ASTI award-winning CIGS technology wasn’t just made for rooftops; it flies higher and is much more mobile. It seamlessly integrates into the wings of unmanned aerial vehicles, on the sides of satellites, or carried in the packs of deployed soldiers, so they can easily power their electronics on the go. From standard bare modules to ASTI Extreme CIGS Technology, the Company works with its clients to create the perfect solution to meet their power, weight, shape, and encapsulation requirements. Ascent Solar is the only solar manufacturer that can create a thin-film module that is durable, flexible, lightweight, and has the high-performance solar efficiency that no other thin-film provider can match. ASTI solar technology will not crack or shatter upon impact and continues to operate in cloudy or overcast conditions. ASTI solar modules allow for maximum efficiency and durability while minimizing weight load. This combination of attributes makes the Ascent Solar offering suitable for operation in the most extreme environments and rugged locations imaginable. It is more flexible and durable than the standard PV product, while weighing significantly less. The Company owns a valuable patent portfolio including over 80 granted and pending patents. ASTI’s award winning thin-film CIGS solar modules are more flexible, versatile and rugged than traditional solar panels. They use plastic as their substrate rather than glass that’s used by tradition rooftop solar panels.
Ascent Solar achieved a major breakthrough in power-to-weight ratio for its superlight solar module, delivering over 1700 watts of power per kilogram, operating at AM0, technically known as the space environment. At this performance, Ascent’s superlight module would weigh 66% less than a comparable PV system using the highest-quality crystalline silicon and with far less design complexity. The elimination of two-thirds of the weight is a critical improvement for satellites, space vehicles and space stations. For space and near-space applications, power-to-weight ratio is a key performance metric. In addition to simplicity, the Company’s modules could dramatically impact cost. Depending on the application, such as low earth orbit all the way to manned flights, including contemplated missions to Mars, the fully burdened cost can be anywhere from thousands of dollars to $1 Million per pound for a space launch. By creating this superior module with the best power-to-weight ratio of any available product, Ascent has enabled entrance into the rapidly growing space and near space markets.
Microcapdaily has been reporting on ASTI for years since the stock was well below the $0.01 mark. More recently we reported on Bernd Förtsch gaining a controlling interest in the Company and all the big things that have been happening here since. Bernd Förtsch is a German entrepreneur and publisher. He is the founder and owner of the Kulmbach- based Börsenmedien AG, which publishes, among other things, the stock exchange and financial magazines The Shareholder and The Investor. In addition, Bernd Förtsch is founder and owner of Aktionär TV AG and founder of the online broker flatex . Förtsch achieved notoriety above all in the context of the stock market euphoria of the Neuer Markt. Mr. Förtsch is 60,3% owner of TubeSolar AG and he holds stakes in Companies such as BF Holding GmbH, Deposit Solutions GmbH, Flatex AG, the biggest online broker in Europe, valued at 1.2 billion Euros, Flatex Bank AG, Börsenmedien AG, Coreo AG, Fintech Group AG and many more.
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On March 1 ASTI announced it has been selected by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for participation in two upcoming flight demonstrations – the Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and anTenna (LISA-T) project and the Solar Cruiser solar sail project. Ascent’s flexible, ultra-lightweight, monolithically-integrated photovoltaics (PV) are based on the copper-indium-gallium-selenium (CIGS) chemistry and could benefit various future missions, ranging from CubeSats, solar sails, and potentially for missions to the moon and Mars. In order to obtain the necessary data to determine how flexible CIGS performs in the space environment, Ascent’s PV module has been undergoing extensive evaluation for years, including protracted and demanding ground simulation test and, most recently, as a part of the 10th Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE-X) flight experiment aboard the International Space Station that was launched on November 17, 2018 for a duration of over 1 year. The upcoming LISA-T demonstration, part of NASA’s Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator 4 CubeSat slated for launch in 2022, will also include Ascent’s flexible CIGS as part of its further photovoltaic experiment.

LISA-T is a fully thin-film, high-performing power generation and communications array for small spacecraft to solve the power limitation of today’s small satellites, which are becoming an attractive option for scientific, exploratory, and commercial interests. Utilizing an ultra-lightweight, easily stowable flexible array with integrated antenna elements, LISA-T will demonstrate a new approach using flexible PV that would solve the delicate weight and power issues. In addition, LISA-T would expedite the maturation of flexible PV technology that is much needed for space applications, and also provides a virtually identical PV array (minus the antenna) for the Solar Cruiser solar sail project. The Solar Cruiser mission will fly a small spacecraft with a large (>1,600 square meter) solar sail. Solar Cruiser will demonstrate the deployment of a large, high-performance solar sail, validation of all sail subsystems, controlled station-keeping, attitude control of the sail, demonstration of pointing performance for science imaging, and an increase in heliocentric inclination. Thus, power generation for both near-earth and deep space missions are being demonstrated by these two NASA efforts.
Dr. Joseph Armstrong, Chief Technology and Operating Officer of Ascent Solar stated: “We are honored that our involvement with NASA over the years is leading to flight opportunities for our product on both LISA-T and Solar Cruiser. Extensive ground testing and actual flight experience are pre-requisite to the acceptance by the space community. The experience we had with Marshall and NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate’s investments in development of LISA-T and MISSE-X flight experiments represented significant milestones for the Company, and will prepare our proprietary PV technology to be elevated to Technology Readiness Level 7 (TRL7) for future missions.”
Victor Lee, President and CEO of Ascent Solar stated: “We are thrilled to be working with both the LISA-T and Solar Cruiser projects in transforming our lightweight CIGS PV into a space-grade product, a high-value PV market that we have been focusing on. Developing a PV module capable of integrating into a deployable array for CubeSats and future exploration missions was a first step with NASA, and now being slated as the PV supplier on Solar Cruiser separates Ascent from the competition and puts us in a very unique position in the industry to answer the mission-critical needs of these developing premium markets.”
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ASTI (Ascent Solar Technologies) is making a powerful move up the charts after the Company announced it has been selected by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for participation in two upcoming flight demonstrations – the Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and anTenna (LISA-T) project and the Solar Cruiser solar sail project. The Solar Cruiser mission will fly a small spacecraft with a large (>1,600 square meter) solar sail. The upcoming LISA-T demonstration, part of NASA’s Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator 4 CubeSat slated for launch in 2022, will also include Ascent’s flexible CIGS as part of its further photovoltaic experiment. Ascent Solar working with Marshall and NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate’s investments in development of LISA-T and MISSE-X flight experiments represented significant milestones for ASTI, and prepares the Company’s proprietary PV technology to be elevated to Technology Readiness Level 7 (TRL7) for future missions.” Over the past few months ASTI has seen a parabolic rise up the charts from well under a penny to recent highs of $0.097 per share. The stock has quickly attracted legions of new shareholders and is transforming into a volume leader in small caps trading $35 million in dollar volume on Monday alone. ASTI is quickly emerging as the darling of small caps ever since the Company received a $2.5 million investment from Bernd Fortsch via Crowdex and TubeSolar AG, a well-known German entrepreneur worth hundreds of millions of euros who has now become the controlling shareholder. Mr. Fortsch has quickly brought on a top-level management team of major international executives including Michael Gilbreth as CFO and Will Clarke as class 2 director. ASTI is ex Nasdaq and as we have reported many times these ex big boards have a long history of historic moves once trading in small caps especially the OTC bulletin board. ASTI an early pioneer in Flexible Solar Modules could not be in a stronger position as Solar Energy is currently seeing an enormous global boost.Investors are looking for a break over $0.097 confirmation of the next parabolic move up and all-out blue-sky breakout! We will be updating on ASTI as events unfold so make sure you are subscribed to Microcapdaily so you know what is going on with ASTI.
Disclosure: we hold no position in ASTI either long or short and we have not been compensated for this article.