system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Would there be a benefit to putting solar panels above the atmosphere?

So to the best of my knowledge, here is my question. The energy output by the sun is decreased by traveling theough the atmosphere. Would there be any benefit to using planes or balloons to collect the energy from the sun in power cells using solar panels above the majority of the atmosphere where it could be a higher output? Or, would the energy used to get them up there outweigh the difference from placing them on the earth's surface?
gpt
The atmosphere is largely transparent to visible light, which is the range most conventional photovoltaics use. If located higher there could be a marginal increase (ignoring other factors at the moment) because there would be a few percent more of that light, however without the atmosphere blocking the more energetic wavelengths like UV the cells degrade requiring you to add thicker shielding/glass to mimic the effect of the atmosphere.

Additionally photovoltaics have a reduced efficiency when hot, which is a concern when they are being hit by useless wavelengths (which normally the atmosphere blocks) that only heat the panels and contribute nothing to the actual generation of power while also having very little to no medium to assist in transferring that heat away

Finally you'd need a way to get that power from the panels back down to the ground, which could be done in a variety of ways, but realistically it's not practical from an engineering or cost perspective when you want the power at ground level in the first place.