/sci/ - Science & Math

>>15844876
food isn't the issue

To make a point, these are iROSA panels. One of, if not the most volume and mass efficient panels in space currently.
All of this produces 20kW and as you can see they are not quite negligible as far as volume goes
By taking ISS as benchmark, you need about 10-20 kW per person (let's go with the optimistic lowball amount).
For every man aboard, you need minimum of one of these, because once you get further from Sun to Mars orbit, you get less than 50% of the power output.