Discussion»Statements»Rosie's Corner» The Vanguard 1 Satellite launched March 17, 1958 was the first to use solar panels. Solar panels have limitations. RTG's?
They were probably very rare and costly items for the first few decades they were around, and it was far easier and cheaper to stay with conventional electricity supplies to homes.
It m ay also have been a matter of solar panels having to wait until they had become sufficiently developed in power-output and very importantly, longevity, for domestic use.
It isn't the Sun's heat they capture, but the light. The panel holds an array of photovoltaic cells, which convert light into electricity.
Thank you for that correction Durdle. I appreciate it. So they capture light which turns into electricity which powers things. Do solar panels have a certain life beyond which they become useless? :)
Solar panels are like anyhting else. They do deteriorate over time. I think the ones typically put on house roofs are meant to last about 20 years but it will depend very much on the weather they experience.
I don't know how ageing affects those used in Space. They are not subject to the weather of course, but instead those on craft orbiting the Earth are in the Suns' radiation at much higher levels than down here on the Earth's surface. (The Sun's radiation fluctates, and I think Space scientists and engineers do call it "Space Weather".)
"Space Weather". I don't recall ever hearing/seeing that before but I kinda like it. What's way up there is different from what's down here. It has always amazed the heck out of me that scientists on earth never having been UP THERE still could design and build things that would survive. I know they have instruments to measure things but still it seems like magic to me. So solar panels last about 20 years after which homeowners have to replace them? Of course in 20 years who knows what will have been invented/developed/improved upon? Thank you for your thoughtful and informative reply! :)
I first heard the term "space weather" in connection with the occasional, very large outbursts of electrically charged particles, on top of the normal flow or radiation, from the Sun.
These can be intense enough to break through our atmosphere that protects us most of the time, and cause potentially serious problems to electrical and communications systems.
Spacecraft, and astronauts, don't have that natural screen so have to be protected artificially from the radiation.
Spacecraft, including satelllites and deep-space probes, are designed by engineers and made to very exacting standards by very skilled technicians, rather than scientists; but it is the scientists who give the engineers the necessary information. They don't need to have gone into space themsleves, because it became possible to launch satellites able to measure things and radio the data back to Earth.
Did you see that photo NASA published some while back (last year now, perhaps), taken from a probe somewhere way out in the Solar Sytem but looking back along its path? It was intended simply as an engineering test, but the image was so startling that the Agency released it. It shows a black sky sprinkled with stars, as you'd expect, but one dot of light is a bit bigger, a definite tiny disc, tinged blue. It is the Earth - a small planet far away from the camera, in the vastness of Space
' The life of a solar array on a house is reckoned to be around 20 - 25 years, or was when I looked into it several years ago. It will depend a lot on the prevailing weather they experience - ironically sun-light is the most damaging to many materials. They are not repairable as far as I know; and I don't know to what extent any of their materials can be salvaged and re-processed to make new panels or other goods.
As you suggest though, the manufacturers will be continuing to develop solar arrays and I would imagine that better longevity is one aspect. That might seem strange considering how we have been conditioned to think nothing is made to last, but a solar-panel maker whose products last longer than their rivals' for no significant extra cost might expect to sell more! Further, there are now growing pressures on manufacturers to make domestic equipment last longer and be repairable as far as possible.
You know Durdle the first refrigerator I ever owned LASTED 30 years! Subsequently in my experience they are not made to last that long. The manufacturers figured out they'd sell more by making them less durable. DUH! I fear that's how everything is these days. Do the least that you can get by with and that applies to everything. Back in the day when people had pride in their work that would be anathema to them. Not today though. Which means homo saps are becoming less than they used to be morally spiritually and obviously intellectually? What else can one take away from it? Thank you for your informative reply. How much more worser than we are now will we bcome? :(
Durdle 