I was thinking about how oblique surfaces receive less energy thatn head-on surfaces (that's why seasons exist).

If we put a large mirror/photovoltaic-panel combination in front of a space station and made it oblique, it would absorb less energy. We could then move it close to the sun to study it better. Because it is oblique to the energy coming from the sun, it absorbs less energy than it would face on (which would burn-out/destroy the photovoltaic panels. The mirrors would reflect the excess heat back into space really well because, being oblique to the sun, they would have to deal with less energy. Also, since the panels are close to the sun, they make a lot of free solar energy.

Count the times I used the word "oblique".
-- DesertFox, Jul 22 2004

No, I won't do it, you can't make me........Alright, I already did, but you can't make me do it again.
-- normzone, Jul 22 2004


basically you want the suns rays to hit your solar shield at an angle, so each square inch of shield will have to deal with less radiation, and it will heat up less.

Yeah, it could work. But you would use less material if you just made your ship a really pointy cone and aimed it at the sun. Still all oblique sun rays hitting the surface.
-- GutPunchLullabies, Jul 22 2004


Or just put it further away.
-- Loris, Jul 22 2004


6
-- gnomethang, Jul 22 2004


6?
-- DesertFox, Jul 22 2004


Yep. 6.
-- daseva, Jul 22 2004


yeah, 6...why did I count??
-- swimr, Jul 22 2004


Being close to the sun is useful for research purposes. Ditto to the cone idea--symmetry is good aesthetically, and you'd avoid issues with assymetrical solar-sail effects that might make the probe/station unstable.
-- 5th Earth, Jul 22 2004


six. no-wait, seven.
-- dpsyplc, Jul 22 2004


Let's see, once in the title, once in the first paragraph, three times in the middle paragraph, and once in the last sentence paragraph. That's six times.

GutPunchLullabies, that cone's surfaces would be oblique, too.
-- DesertFox, Jul 22 2004


Uh, oh. Wait! Oh, you weren't using the once under [moon colony]. nevermind.
-- dpsyplc, Jul 22 2004


Plus he said it again in his last anno.
-- Worldgineer, Jul 22 2004


That was my point. I just think a cone is better than the giant, flat, tilted mirror your idea conjures up. Still, this is a modification to an already clever idea.
-- GutPunchLullabies, Jul 23 2004


6
-- Voice, Aug 20 2006


Uhh, aren't the seasons also partially caused by the sun's rays needing to punch through the atmosphere obliquely... and thus being shielded by far more air before hitting the ground?

Just how much closer are we talking here?
-- ye_river_xiv, Aug 21 2006



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