Solar Panels

Solar panels are an uncommon sight at New Albion, both inside the colony and on the surface.

Video caption text
00:00
[Foreboding orchestral music]
[Gustav Holst: Mars, the Bringer of War]
00:22
[Music]
[Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance (Land of Hope and Glory)]
00:32
This is New Albion on Mars
00:36
Solar panels are an uncommon sight at
00:39
New Albion, both inside the colony and
on the surface.
00:44
The energy from Sol
(the Solar System's star)
00:47
is weaker once it reaches Mars than it is
in Earth's orbit.
00:52
Additionally the dust that hangs for so
long in Mars' thin atmosphere is a problem.
00:58
It tends to blanket everything in
01:01
a thick layer, a mission-shortening
problem for early Mars exploration.
01:07
We use solar panels on some space craft, both
in Mars orbit and in interplanetary space.
01:15
The power we gain from solar panels in
01:18
Mars Orbit is less than half what they
would produce in Earth orbit.
01:24
Most compartment lighting doesn't contain
01:27
enough ultraviolet energy for
solar panels to work well inside New Albion.
01:34
Some very low power consumer /
mobile devices - such as desk calculators -
01:40
can obtain usable amounts of energy
from compartment lighting.
01:46
Ain't so sunshine in weak sun!
01:53
[Dissonant clashing orchestral music]
[Gustav Holst: Mars, the Bringer of War]
02:10
[orchestral music continues]