[Beowulf] Re: blackbox on Mars?

[steve_heaton at iinet.net.au]

G'day Jim and all

Pushing further from the topic (given your day job Jim ;) Also freely accepting
this is pure speculation...

30% efficiency on the solar cells?! A generous round up I suspect? I thought
Deep Space 1 only got ~23%? And that was the soopa doopa focus layer, no dust
out there to speak of flavour?

I also remember hearing some talk of them developing special cells for Mars that
were better operating at the slightly different 'coloured' sunlight?

And while lag to Earth in radio is the same for light ('c') what rates might we
expect if we upgrade to that light carrier technology we've been hearing about?

If this post is too far from topic then somebody slap me... it's just that I'm a
curious animal ;)

Cheers
Stevo