this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2026
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Although they're falling out of use these days, both because they're not very environmentally friendly on account of being instant bird death-rays, and also because regular solar panels are cheap enough that it's not worth it to make a big thermosolar plant.
Habitat destruction, air pollution, and pesticides are unfathomably worse for birds.
And I'm not sure how much alive things are in the Atacama (except when there is a blooming desert fenomenon.
Idk, my country just inaugurated a gigantic one of these.
Also, fotovoltaic pannels decay with time and have to be replaced, 15 years I think? Their manufacturing isn't also the greenest thing on earth.
You build one of these, and you can run it for a long long time.
This number gets lower every time I see it.
First, manufacturers typically guarantee their panels for 25 to 30 years.
Second, while we can extrapolate from existing data and perform accelerated aging tests, we're actually not completely sure how long PV panels last in the real world because the oldest ones from 1987 are still going.
much longer: https://www.slashgear.com/1989112/solar-panel-lifespan-longer-new-study/
The usual warranty period is 20 years generating 80% of the nameplate generating Watts
They keep generating reasonable amounts of power 50 or 100 years later, though they tend to get overtaken by new technology in 10 to 20 years, and since they pay for themselves in about 4 years in my area they get replaced while still working well
I think we export our obsolete panels to developing nations
Lies! Well the thermal plant is also fine but photovoltaics are really, really good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ9nt2ZeGM
I wonder if it could be worth it to make one of those on other planets/the Moon one day. No birds to worry about there.
Solar panels are still cheaper and easier. Most spaceships and probes rely on them.
Yea, I should have guessed as much.
Not a lot of atmosphere on the moon.
Transmitting heat across distances in effectively a vacuum doesn't work too well.
Just look a the size of the radiators the ISS has to have, and they're not even sending heat anywhere in particular, that's just getting it off station
You're getting thermal radiation and convection confused. The ISS has giant radiators because it's a right pain in the ass to turn heat into thermal radiation, and it cannot rely on convection to cool things like you can here on earth. Turning thermal radiation into heat on the other hand is pretty trivial. Just don't reflect it and it'll turn into heat. These things aren't transporting heat across distances. They are transporting thermal radiation across distances. That works as well in a vacuum -- if not better -- as it does on earth.
If thermal radiation doesn't work in a vacuum, how is the sun heating anything up?
I stand corrected
The mirrors on Earth don't transfer the energy using the air between the mirror and the collector, they just bounce the spicy photons which can travel even better in a vacuum.
Or in the Atacama, the Desertiest desert on earth!
Where the gigantic Cerro Dominador Termosolar Power Plant opened a couple years ago.