Spire Corp., a solar company that provides capital equipment and turnkey production lines to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Spire Semiconductor LLC received a contract from the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to develop high efficiency, multi-junction solar cells for space applications. Currently, the company is developing a 42 percent efficient, 500 sun concentrator cell us a US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory contract. The MDA award will help it to further establish its capabilities in the concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) cell technology for space and terrestrial solar cell applications. Spire Semiconductor provides wafer epitaxy, foundry services and device fabrication for solar and other industries. For more information, visit: www.spirecorp.com