Rick Sternbach, Rick Sternbach, Rick Sternbach...

[Captain Robert April]

On the other hand, if they're solar panels, like you (and most sentient viewers) assumed, it makes perfect sense for them to be positioned the way they are.

 

[DonIago]

I always assumed solar panels as well, though to be fair I'm not enough of a science guy to have been very familiar with radiator fins prior to this thread.

 

[Christopher]

On the other hand, if they're solar panels, like you (and most sentient viewers) assumed, it makes perfect sense for them to be positioned the way they are.

Except that the two sets being directly across from each other means one is blocking sunlight to the other if the angle is sufficiently head-on. Also, solar panels should really be able to rotate to face the star. Heck, flowers do that.

 

[David cgc]

IIRC, behind-the-scenes sources said they were both. In light of Christopher's observation, though, radiators covered with solar panels seem to be the worst of both worlds (not to mention that the back third of the station was taken up by a fusion reactor, which you would think would remove a lot of the need for solar panels).

Neither really makes sense, though. Not even the "realistic" earth ships had radiator fins (though, oddly, that was given as the reason the super-advanced Vorlon transport had those petals in back that opened up during flight).

 

[Timo]

Combined radiators and solar panels would simply need a microstructure where the two functional surfaces are at right angles to each other. Add rotation as needed.

Or if the solar panel works by converting incoming radiation directly to heat rather than to electricity, the fins could easily be combined solar panels or (rather than and) radiators, just with two settings for the heat circulation pump (be it based on fluid circulation or something more futuristic)...

Timo Saloniemi