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iamnotaparakeet
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13 Apr 2011, 5:50 pm

A photovoltaic array stationed in orbit around the sun could constantly collect the sun's energy and use it to decompose water into component hydrogen and oxygen as well as charge batteries, of which these could be used for fuel and power supplies aboard spacecraft. Right now doing anything more than keeping the ISS functioning is economically infeasible, but hopefully the economic system wont remain so dire after the disciples of Thomas Malthus are out of office.



ruveyn
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13 Apr 2011, 6:49 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
A photovoltaic array stationed in orbit around the sun could constantly collect the sun's energy and use it to decompose water into component hydrogen and oxygen as well as charge batteries, of which these could be used for fuel and power supplies aboard spacecraft. Right now doing anything more than keeping the ISS functioning is economically infeasible, but hopefully the economic system wont remain so dire after the disciples of Thomas Malthus are out of office.


Some of the inbound energy would be re-radiated. It cannot be 100 percent. Even a black-body is not one hundred percent efficient.

ruveyn



iamnotaparakeet
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13 Apr 2011, 6:58 pm

ruveyn wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
A photovoltaic array stationed in orbit around the sun could constantly collect the sun's energy and use it to decompose water into component hydrogen and oxygen as well as charge batteries, of which these could be used for fuel and power supplies aboard spacecraft. Right now doing anything more than keeping the ISS functioning is economically infeasible, but hopefully the economic system wont remain so dire after the disciples of Thomas Malthus are out of office.


Some of the inbound energy would be re-radiated. It cannot be 100 percent. Even a black-body is not one hundred percent efficient.

ruveyn


Only annihilation is 100% efficient, but any method of deriving usable energy from an antimatter-matter reaction would decrease the efficiency also.



ruveyn
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15 Apr 2011, 7:17 am

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
ruveyn wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
A photovoltaic array stationed in orbit around the sun could constantly collect the sun's energy and use it to decompose water into component hydrogen and oxygen as well as charge batteries, of which these could be used for fuel and power supplies aboard spacecraft. Right now doing anything more than keeping the ISS functioning is economically infeasible, but hopefully the economic system wont remain so dire after the disciples of Thomas Malthus are out of office.


Some of the inbound energy would be re-radiated. It cannot be 100 percent. Even a black-body is not one hundred percent efficient.

ruveyn


Only annihilation is 100% efficient, but any method of deriving usable energy from an antimatter-matter reaction would decrease the efficiency also.


Not with a sink temperature of absolute zero.

ruveyn