Elon Musk has been promising humans on mars by now. He has also been promising all sorts of very low cost numbers that he promises the starship will achieve as soon as it stops blowing up.
3–5× the energy of the same panel at a good terrestrial site
Sure. You can get nearly 2x the energy from a solar panel by just putting it on a sun tracking swivel mount. Nowadays we don’t bother, because solar panels are now cheaper than wooden fence panels, and getting cheaper.
We find that the cost-competitiveness case for ODCs depends almost entirely on Starship achieving reusability comparable with what SpaceX achieved with Falcon: space-based solar reaches cost parity with present-day off-grid terrestrial power continuously at roughly $250/kg to orbit,
I’m not convinced of this. Sure, at current launch prices, it’s not cost competitive. But I suspect that even if launch was literally free, it still wouldn’t be cost competitive.
There are a large number of assorted engineering inconveniences of space.
You mentioned the lack of maintanence. But there is also
1) Vibrations of launch. Shakes things loose unless they are well attached. Your whole design needs vibration-proofed.
2) Radiation. Not good for chips. There is a reason many space based systems calculate everything in triplicate and take the majority.
3) Outgassing. Many common glues and plastics don’t really react well to a vacuum, so you have to use specialist vacuum rated materials.
4) Weight concerns. The cost of using titanium alloys instead of concrete.
5) Micrometeorites (and kessler syndrome)
6) Unfolding the solar panels. The panels need to be folded up to fit in the rocket, but they need to be unfolded to face the sun.
7) Trajectory and angle correction. You need star tracking cameras so the spacecraft knows where it is, reaction wheels so it can turn around, thrusters to adjust it’s orbit.
8) Data connectivity when the satellite is moving and sometimes over the ocean.
Also
Moreover, ODCs don’t currently face the same permitting and regulatory delays as on Earth
Launching a rocket does involve a lot of permitting delays from people who don’t want a rocket landing on their heads.
Elon Musk has been promising humans on mars by now. He has also been promising all sorts of very low cost numbers that he promises the starship will achieve as soon as it stops blowing up.
Sure. You can get nearly 2x the energy from a solar panel by just putting it on a sun tracking swivel mount. Nowadays we don’t bother, because solar panels are now cheaper than wooden fence panels, and getting cheaper.
I’m not convinced of this. Sure, at current launch prices, it’s not cost competitive. But I suspect that even if launch was literally free, it still wouldn’t be cost competitive.
There are a large number of assorted engineering inconveniences of space.
You mentioned the lack of maintanence. But there is also
1) Vibrations of launch. Shakes things loose unless they are well attached. Your whole design needs vibration-proofed.
2) Radiation. Not good for chips. There is a reason many space based systems calculate everything in triplicate and take the majority.
3) Outgassing. Many common glues and plastics don’t really react well to a vacuum, so you have to use specialist vacuum rated materials.
4) Weight concerns. The cost of using titanium alloys instead of concrete.
5) Micrometeorites (and kessler syndrome)
6) Unfolding the solar panels. The panels need to be folded up to fit in the rocket, but they need to be unfolded to face the sun.
7) Trajectory and angle correction. You need star tracking cameras so the spacecraft knows where it is, reaction wheels so it can turn around, thrusters to adjust it’s orbit.
8) Data connectivity when the satellite is moving and sometimes over the ocean.
Also
Launching a rocket does involve a lot of permitting delays from people who don’t want a rocket landing on their heads.