Just to prove to you that NEW SCIENTIST magazine [www.newscientist.com] does carry
mainstream science & technology news stories, I refer you to their December/07/02 issue.
P-24 has an article on a highly-promising, revolutionary new solar-cell material: InGaN, Indium gallium nitride.
Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have found that this
compound makes a solar-cell with an efficiency rated at over 50% in converting the sun's emitted EM energy into electricity [regular solar-cells have a conversion-efficiency limit of only about 30% max.]
This has terrific space-exploration
potential.

Jacob