In practice they would provide a lot more power per unit mass by at least one order of magnitude and possibly two.
Can you elaborate more on that? It was clear to me that in space PV in space can give much more energy/mass than in Earth, but close to 2 orders of magnitudes is huge! Is this “only” due to temperatures losses + constantly running at full capacity + concentration?
Almost all of the mass of solar panels on Earth is structural strength to deal with various types of weather (mostly wind). That alone would increase power per unit mass by a factor of 5-10, though some of that would be eaten by beamed power equipment that isn’t necessary on Earth.
Permanent cloudless daylight with the light coming from an essentially fixed direction increases average power by a factor of about 4-6, while not affecting mass.
Using thin-film mirrors for concentration could enable even more power for given mass.
Can you elaborate more on that? It was clear to me that in space PV in space can give much more energy/mass than in Earth, but close to 2 orders of magnitudes is huge! Is this “only” due to temperatures losses + constantly running at full capacity + concentration?
Almost all of the mass of solar panels on Earth is structural strength to deal with various types of weather (mostly wind). That alone would increase power per unit mass by a factor of 5-10, though some of that would be eaten by beamed power equipment that isn’t necessary on Earth.
Permanent cloudless daylight with the light coming from an essentially fixed direction increases average power by a factor of about 4-6, while not affecting mass.
Using thin-film mirrors for concentration could enable even more power for given mass.
Ahhh! What I was missing is the structure part. I was thinking in E/surface not on E/mass. Thanks.