SRC-171

Solar Cell Degradation Due to Proton Belt Enhancements During Electric Orbit Raising to GEO

Published claims resting on this source

• CLM-0676 A peer-reviewed study calculates that solar panels lose a real, measurable amount of power, up to about 15% in the worst case tested, just from spending months passing through Earth's radiation belts during a slow electric-propulsion trip to high orbit. Thinner protective glass on the cells makes this worse; starting from a higher point in the transfer orbit makes it better.
• CLM-0975 Depending on which published assumptions you take, a satellite needs between about 2 and 6 square kilometres of solar blanket for every gigawatt it generates. Nearly all of that spread comes from how efficient the cells are; degradation and pointing each shift it by ten per cent or so, and the exact sunlight value by under one per cent.

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