Do Satellites Have Solar Panels

Solar arrays that convert energy to electricity on the international space station are made of thousands of solar cells made from purified chunks of the element silicon.

Do satellites have solar panels. During these so called eclipses the solar panels cannot produce electrical energy and the satellite. Spacecraft traveling far away from the sun have very large solar panels to get the electricity they need. The best source of energy for spacecraft is sunlight. They have to be big because only 20 of the light arriving from the sun is actually converted into electricity.

For example nasa s juno spacecraft uses solar power all the way out at jupiter where it orbits the planet. Nasa s juno spacecraft is powered by very large solar arrays. Outside the orbit of jupiter solar radiation is too weak to produce sufficient power within current solar technology and spacecraft mass limitations so radioisotope thermoelectric generators are instead used as a power source. Solar panel equipped energy transmitting satellites collect high intensity uninterrupted solar radiation by using giant mirrors to reflect huge amounts of solar rays onto smaller solar collectors.

This radiation is then wirelessly beamed to earth in a safe and controlled way as either a microwave or laser beam. Sun rays in space are even more abundant than on earth due to the absence of an atmosphere. The sun is the main energy source for satellites which is why all satellites have solar panel arrays mounted on them. Satellites in space are also equipped with solar panels that can follow the direction of the sun to maximize their absorption of sunlight.

Each array contains thousands of small solar cells which are made of silicon a material that allows sunlight to be turned into electrical current. These arrays are unique in the fact that their efficiency in converting sunlight to electrical energy is much higher than the efficiency of solar panels on earth. Each of juno s three solar arrays is 30 feet 9 meters long. Depending on the type of orbit this can happen just a few times a year or every few hours.

Satellites orbiting the earthpass through a shadow region on the opposite side of the earth from the sun. Orbiting satellites can be exposed to a consistently high degree of solar radiation generally for 24 hours per day whereas earth surface solar panels currently collect power for an average of 29 of the day. Power could be relatively quickly redirected directly to areas that need it most. Engineers have developed technologies to convert solar energy to electrical power efficiently.

Although solar has not become the ruling source of energy on our planet when it comes to artificial satellites it s the most predominant source of energy. As you can see on the jason satellite above solar arrays are quite large.