You also forgot something else in your math regarding solar panels, Esna: by that point, it's not unreasonable that advancements in energy usage would also have been made. Odds are you'd be looking at not only more efficient solar panels, but far more efficient devices that use the power coming from them.
Actually I didn't; I tripled my expected output from modern-day panels to account for advances in technology.
NERD CLARIFICATION TIME
I'm shocked orange hasn't already pointed this out.
Esna, do your calculations take into account the probably folded up and covered state of the solar panels? The image clearly mentions that they are covered at the moment by a protective shroud. How do you know how big they are when fully extended and deployed ala modern solar panels on the ISS, Mir, and Skylab? Those panels in real life weren't fully extended on launch.
The shroud blister is clearly thick enough to contain some serious panel folding inside it, and that's not even including the possibility that there would be even more layers folded and tucked deeper into the hull behind the blister. For all you know they could extend hundreds of meters out with both sides providing power and rotating to face the nearest light source. Then you can also imagine they are far more efficient than today's solar panels.
NERD REANALYSIS TIMEActually I'd considered this, but disregarded it on account of a couple of things.
First is the actual shape and placement of the panel covers. They are considerably wider than they are long, yet are stacked quite close together; this means they cannot effectively be turned off their axis far before occluding one another (or worse yet, crashing into each other). The remaining options are to mount each on an adjustable arm to 'fan' them out or use the ship's thrusters to re-orient itself to a better angle; I admit the former is a possibility, but I discarded the latter because of point #2...
The purpose of the hull: We are operating here under the assumption that the Nestor is intended to operate in unsafe zones (hence being a hybrid battleship-medboat, rather than a pure unarmed medboat), and that the purpose (as stated above) of deploying solar panels would be to 'go silent' and avoid contact with potential hostile elements. However, large deployed photovoltaics are a truly terrible way of doing this: They will likely reflect large amounts of radiation* (particularly in the microwave and radio spectrums, critical to avoiding contact with RADAR-using hostiles, but also in other spectra as well). We don't exactly know how Gallente Magnetometric scanners work, but I dare say that extending a large surface bearing a large number of electrical conduits won't exactly be stealthy there either.
I'd note at this point that we do often see solar harvesters in EVE: They appear in missions, anomaly/complexes, and other deadspace sites. However, they're universally attached to static facilities that aren't going anywhere and are already quite un-stealthy by merit of their size. This doesn't seem to jive with the concept of the panels as a 'quieter' option to the Nestor's main power plant.
*
Footnote: Interestingly, a good portion of the reflected radiation from solar panels appears to come not from the photovoltaic itself, but from the protective cover they are encased in. This is especially important in space, where protection against micrometeorites and debris is necessary. A great deal of current research towards panel efficiency involves decreasing that reflection, and I think it is safe to assume that a radically more efficient panel would reflect far, far less.oh lord what hath I wrought?
Author
Topic: Eve Down Under: SOE Battleship Nestor announced (Read 9868 times)