In 2025, a foldable solar-panel kit, the 220W EcoFlow blanket, can still pull about 100 watts of input at sunset. That’s plenty for a laptop, satellite hotspot, or a string of LEDs while you watch the sky fade. It’s a neat reminder of how personal, portable, and democratized solar power has become.

Now place that humble rig beside the International Space Station, whose 1998-era solar array is still humming overhead:

System: ISS array

Collective Area: 2,500 m²/ 26,910 ft

Span: Wings stretch 73 m/ 240 ft, wider than an entire football field

Power Output: ~0.22 kW peak; ~0.10 kW at sunset, 60–120 kW of usable power

In comparison:

• American football field (including end zones)

  • ~5,350 m² / 57,600 ft²

  • 109 m / 360 ft long

• EcoFlow 220 W panel

  • 1.5 m² / 16.2 ft²

  • Folds into a backpack

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Clarification: The ISS truss structure is roughly half the square area of a football field, but its 240-foot wingspan is wider than the field itself.

Not sponsored by EcoFlow. Just powered by curiosity.

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