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'Reverse Solar Panel' Generates Electricity at Night (www.extremetech.com)
submitted 8 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 9 points 8 months ago* (4 children)

The thing about deep space is confusing. Where is it dark for long periods in deep space?

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  • [–] 8 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Everywhere. You have to consider two points: Most light in our nightsky comes from the reflection of sunlight by the Moon. Secondly deep space is not the space between planets or even between the outmost planet and the Kuiper Belt.

    It is the place between stars, which is lightyears in diameters and where every star is just a tiny dot in the sky. This is not enough available energy to power our current level of electronics via solar. Which is why i.e. the Voyager probes use RTGs as power source after they left the area of our solar system where solar power is viable.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago

    In interstellar space there is no temperature differential for that solar cell scheme to work from. It only works when there is something that is heated by the sun part of the time, and radiates heat into space the rest of the time. Maybe the far ("dark") side of the moon counts for that, but for a moon station you probably want batteries or RTG's or whatever. I'm sure there are uses for this thing but they sound very niche. Radiating heat into space on hot nights on the other hand is quite interesting, as an alternative to air conditioning.

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