Foldable photovoltaic solar panel assembly for generating and supplying electric energy to an orbiting satellite

A satellite comprising:

• a frame shaped as a cube;
• and
• a photovoltaic solar panel assembly configured to generate and supply electrical energy to a satellite when the satellite is orbiting, the foldable photovoltaic solar panel assembly comprising:
• a base made of a foldable textile material, the base having an essentially bidimensional extension or like a thin plate, and comprising a first side and a second side, arranged opposite the first side;
• the base being reconfigurable between a deployed configuration in which the base is completely deployed and essentially flat, and a folded configuration in which the base takes a three-dimensional shape of a cube that lacks a face or a three-dimensional shape that, when placed on a face of a cube, is adapted to cover five of the six faces of said cube;
• a plurality of rigid-flexible, printed circuit boards, arranged fixed on the first side of the base, each comprising at least one rigid part and a flexible layer, the rigid part in turn comprising at least one support layer and a copper layer supported by the support layer, each flexible layer being adapted to electrically connect at least one pair of printed circuit boards to each other;
• and
• a plurality of rigid photovoltaic solar cells, each photovoltaic solar cell of the plurality of rigid photovoltaic solar cells being arranged fixed on the rigid part of a respective printed circuit board and being adapted to generate an electric current when hit by light radiation and to transmit said electric current to said respective copper layer;
• wherein the photovoltaic solar panel assembly is arranged fixed on the frame in such a way that, in the folded configuration, the base covers all faces of the frame but one.