Interesting, so Mars' surface level insolation is similar to Earth's surface-level insolation, due to having less atmosphere? That makes solar power - and the Sabatier process - seem more feasible that I initially thought. I understand that Martian orbiters do require much larger solar panels than terrestrial scientific satellites with similar sensor packages.
I was researching before posting and I think I saw something like 40% in a paper, which is much more than the naive 25% you’d get at 2au.
But for things like heating, latitude makes a big difference. I did some calculations for a fanfic I wrote, and at a moderate 30°N or so, you basically get the same insolation as Rovaniemi in Finland assuming similar atmospheres. No wonder those characters never got sunburns.
