0h07m38s17f Utility of Solar Panels Far from Sun. Earth Panel. TR2016a
Channel: Thorium Remix
Date: 20/04/2017

http://ThoriumRemix.com/ As we explore further from the Sun, the utility of solar panels shrink to zero. To illustrate, imagine we can power a space mission orbiting the earth with one solar panel. We'll call this solar panel- THE EARTH PANEL. If we use Earth Panel orbiting Venus instead of the Earth, we'll get almost twice as much electricity from it, because orbiting closer to the Sun, more photons will be hitting the panel surface. The same Earth Panel orbiting Mercury will generate almost 7x as much electricity. Mercury is closer to the Sun. More photons hit the panel. But when we start moving away from the Sun- In Mars orbit- We only get half as much electricity. So to power an identical space mission, we now need 2 Earth Panels. At Jupiter, where only 4% as many photons can hit Earth Panel, we now need 27 Earth Panels to power the mission. The distance between Earth and the Sun is what's called an Astronomical Unit. Earth is 1 Astronomical Unit away from the Sun. Jupiter is only 5 Astronomical Units away from the Sun, but it requires 27x as many solar panels. The relationship is not linear, its quadratic. At Saturn, 91 Earth Panels. Uranus [370]. Neptune [900]. At Pluto, 1500 Earth panels are required to power the mission. Somewhere between Mars and Saturn, our mission became impractical.
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