XPost: sci.space.policy, sci.physics   
      
   In sci.physics Alain Fournier  wrote:   
      
      
      
   > You don't need lots of water and a clean room to make solar panels. You   
   > need those to make high performance solar panel. If you manufacture your   
   > own panels on Mars, you would probably go for easy to do low efficiency   
   > panels at first. On Earth, people are willing to pay a little more in   
   > order to have 10 m^2 of panels instead of 500 m^2 of panels. But on   
   > Mars, the neighbours are far away and you can use lots of surface area.   
   >   
   > Alain Fournier   
      
   As high efficiency solar panel on Mars would only deliver a daily average   
   of about 40 W/m^2, low efficieny panels means a LOT of panels.   
      
   Making solar panel silicon is very energy intensive, so how do you   
   bootstrap a solar panel plant other than with a reactor or shipping   
   huge amounts of panels, mounting hardware, and cement for the posts?   
      
      
      
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