Sunlight in Orbit: the Basic Advantage
What exactly does a solar array gain by being in orbit, and how large is the advantage?
Chapter summary
two things.
Key takeaways
- 1
Sunlight above the atmosphere is about 1,361 watts per square metre, roughly a third more than the peak of about 1,000 W/m² at the ground on a clear day, and it is available almost all the time.
- 2
In geostationary orbit, a satellite is in Earth's shadow only for short daily eclipses around the spring and autumn equinoxes, up to about 72 minutes a day, so it sees sunlight about 99% of the year.
- 3
A ground solar farm, by contrast, produces at an average of roughly 10–25% of its peak capacity because of night, weather and the sun's angle.
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