Specific weight for power options

[neubjr]

I was wondering if anyone knew specific weights for various power supply options for space?

For example, how many Watts/Kg can typical silicon solar cells provide?

What about nuclear power for space systems. I know this is still shunned publicly, but it would be nice to know.

I am assuming that nuclear power can provide a much higher specific weight than solar, but what are the exact numbers?

Any help would be great. :)

Joshua.

[Daniel]

Hi
I don't have the stats nearby, but for all commercial solutions you can just go to google and put in a search. I think in some report that was made in my workplace, we had an appendix listed available power sources, so i will try to dig it up.
regarding nuclear, well, go to nuclearspace.org (i think) and ask there.

-daniel

[timeshifter]

it is true, space could be a primary source of natural recources, but the specific gravity is irrelevent, as the gravity in space is zero. specific density is something that might matter, but it would increase with the pressure in space, so there is really no way to give an accurate answer. that is, unless you went to space and managed to take accurate readings.

this being difficult, as you need water to test specific gravity and specific density alike. to solve that problem, you need gravity. and as soon as you incorporate gravity into the process, you lose the readings for space.

all in all, until scientists manage to build a star trek type scanner, we have no way of knowing what everything is for space. all we can do is find the stats for on earth.

[neubjr]

by specific weight I meant only power produced per kilogram.
Maybe specific mass would be a better term. It is correct that this does not matter if you are producing the solar panels in space; However, I don't think that we are anywhere close to having the facilities capable of producing these in space yet. You still need to launch any power facility you are going to use. Therefore the mass of such solar cells does indeed matter.

If you need to launch a 40kw power supply to the moon, then the mass of such a power supply can get cripplingly prohibitive.

Joshua.

[timeshifter]

one problem with that:
the ISS already is equipped with solar panels to produce power. if that is along the lines of what you are looking for, then you want an electrician to answer your questions. just make sure that he knows something about space, because it might be needed.

the only problem with solar power in space is a simple thing i like to call space debris. if that hits any panel, it would throw off the orbit of the ISS, and would damage the panels. if thrown off too much, the ISS might fall into the atmosphere and disintigrate.

i hope this has been of some help to you.

[K6-III]

Here is another interesting perspective: why not strip dead satellites of their solar panels????

[timeshifter]

possibly: too dangerous. it would take time to get into the same orbit with any dead sattelites, and even then, who says it isn't the panels themselves that made the sattelite go dead?

if the panels failed, the sattelite is in a world of hurt. it is best to just leave them up there, as if a shuttle just happened to hit it, the sattelite would most likely break up. im not sure if that was what you were looking for, but i hope it helps.

[Daniel]

Most models who discuss colonies on other planets view nuclear/chemical (to be found in-situ) as major power source. afaik solar power is not considered as a major power source for colonies.