U-2 pilot's selfie above China's balloon taken over Missouri: How we know that

Re:U-2 pilot's selfie above China's balloon taken over Misso... by mfkp on Friday February 24, 2023 @08:55PM (#34932972)

$100k of solar? 360w panels are sub-$300 at full retail prices. So that's under $5k of panels (unless you're including batteries in the calculation, but even then, it's maybe $10k).

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Re:U-2 pilot's selfie above China's balloon taken over Misso... by bitxbitxbitcoin on Friday February 24, 2023 @09:18PM (#34933132)

$100k of solar if installed by one of those door to door salespeople… it’s unfortunate how many people only have numbers from such interactions.

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Re:U-2 pilot's selfie above China's balloon taken over Misso... by jpgvm on Friday February 24, 2023 @09:44PM (#34933299)

That is house solar panels. For a craft like this you are using aerospace materials. If you were building it in your backyard yeah, you could probably do it cheap but my experience with commercial grade aerospace components makes me think you are going to be in for sticker shock.

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Re:U-2 pilot's selfie above China's balloon taken over Misso... by mfkp on Friday February 24, 2023 @09:59PM (#34933377)

I highly doubt they're using aerospace-grade solar panels. If they were installing them on a permanent satellite, sure, but this is on a presumably disposable balloon. Even accounting for higher solar radiation and degradation of the panels, the lifespan of regular terrestrial panels should be plenty sufficient.

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Re:U-2 pilot's selfie above China's balloon taken over Misso... by snypher on Saturday February 25, 2023 @12:32AM (#34934190)

Where are you finding these panels? Renogy is over $1/W and they have usually been price competitive

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Re:U-2 pilot's selfie above China's balloon taken over Misso... by mfkp on Saturday February 25, 2023 @12:50AM (#34934248)

https://a1solarstore.com/solar-panels.html

370w panel for $266 (there's lots of good deals out there if you shop around).

If you want to save more money and buy by the pallet (22 panels), they're around $182 each for 330w: https://sunelec.com/shop/solar-panels/suniva-330w-solar-pane...

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Re:U-2 pilot's selfie above China's balloon taken over Misso... by samstave on Saturday February 25, 2023 @11:09AM (#34937683)

Seems ripe to group-up and buy a pallet, but Ill take two. Now we just need another 20 to be bought...

What about getting the power ut of the panels? What kind of other kit is required to accomplish this? a transformer and marine batteries?

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