camel -> portable workspace
Are those solar panels? It looks more like some kind of radar/radio antenna array to me.
The original post on r/sovietaesthetics I shamelessly stole this from claims they are solar panels, and my untrained eye says that checks out. You might be onto something, though!
A reverse image search has every source I can see calling it a solar panel, but it doesn’t look like any solar panel I’ve ever seen. The best clue is that some of them are calling it a concentrating photovoltaic array, which maybe suggests that the slatted part is some kind of lens and the grid in front of it has tiny pv cells at the nodes, which might make sense for the time period as a cost saving measure?
Oh, good point! That would make sense!
I did a reverse image search on Yandex in the hopes that the Russian speaking web would have better sources, and everyone there is still calling it a solar photovoltaic array. At least they credit the photographer over there, Yuri Zaritovsky, but there’s still nothing about how exactly the device works or what device exactly it is.
I wish we had more info, would be nice to see other examples or a different angle!
You can see through them to the structure holding them up. Idk about 80s Soviet solar panels but I’m skeptical of that claim
Good catch!
Searching the image on google results in it claiming that yes, they’re solar panels. It says they used a modular louvered design both to help track specific angles of the sun and also to allow wind to pass through since a single panel piece would act like a sail in high desert winds. The description of the panels themselves made me think they’re like photovoltaic strips encased in glass rods so there’s also a visual effect from that at certain angles
Or it could be a radar array i don’t know, that’s just what the machine said. It said they were part of a soviet program to build stations to pump groundwater for nomadic herders
I choose to believe that’s what it is because it would represent the soviets going through great lengths to help people without clear economic gain.
Fog collector?
Looks likes he’s dropping some hot beats
