Sorry, I did not post any educational articles for some time, because I was busy with my new site. Alternative energy is my second passion beside astronomy. Spacecrafts rely on solar panels for a long time already. I know only one current spacecraft which uses nuclear power generator — Cassini, it’s too far from the Sun to supply enough solar energy, but the rest use solar. For example International Space Station gets all it’s energy from solar panels:
ISS is powered by solar panels. Click for slightly bigger image. Image credit: NASA, ESA
Problem with solar panels is that they still have to go some way to become a bit cheaper. For sure this technology has a good potential. For example solar cells which you currently can buy for your needs have about 16% efficiency, while solar panels used by Mars rovers are about 40% efficiency!
Solar energy is a very broad topic and unfortunately I don’t have too much time on my hands, so I decided to make a smaller website about RV solar panels. I think it is better to cover the small topic completely than have a never finished website. I believe solar panels is a good choice for RVs — you don’t need a big system to power it, so it’s not that expensive like the household solar system.
Astronomy Articles, News and Pictures 