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Solar flux above the atmosphere is around 1300 watts per square meter. At the ground in say Las Vegas it's around 1000 watts. Cloud cover or similar can cut that in half or worse.

Sinking heat is an issue in space. The thermal radiator panels on the ISS are bigger than the solar panels.



I never understood why heat exchange is so hard in space. I suppose it’s hard to keep things in orbit while also keeping hot and cold sides stationary?


It just boils down to radiation being a lot less effective way to shed heat than conduction/convection to a surrounding medium.




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