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"reflects onto dozens of photovoltaic cells arranged around the inside of the device which convert the energy back to usable power." This is no different that

"reflects onto dozens of photovoltaic cells arranged around the inside of the device which convert the energy back to usable power." This is no different that what we were considering two decades ago for the space elevator competition. One of the problems with this approach is that as the photovoltaic cells heat up their overall efficiency decreases.

bagels 1y ago
They'll only get so hot, and you can just spread the energy across more cells, right?
- IX-103 1y ago
  You end up with a thermal runaway situation where the hotter the photovoltaics get, the more energy they convert to heat (instead of reflecting or converting to electricity).