Space based solar beaming power to Earth by 2025.

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Space based solar beaming power to Earth by 2025.

Post by pErvinalia » Sun Aug 25, 2013 1:07 pm

Image
In the third century BCE, King Hiero II of Syracuse asked Archimedes to devise a number of death traps to thwart Roman invaders. Among the many designs the great inventor drew up was a solar death ray. The basic idea was to build an array of mirrors that could reflect rays of light into a central blast, causing Roman ships to burst into flame. It's unlikely the weapon ever made it past the blueprint stage, but it became an incredibly influential model nonetheless. Archimedes was perhaps the first solar power convert, searching for a way to take advantage of the inconceivable amount of energy our friendly neighborhood star barfs up every second.

The only thing that would make Archimedes' solar death ray more fascinating is if it was technically feasible, socially benevolent, and in space. That's where John Mankins comes in. A NASA veteran, aerospace entrepreneur, and space-based solar power (SBSP) expert, Mankins designed the world's first practical orbital solar plant. It's called the Solar Power Satellite via Arbitrarily Large PHased Array, or SPS-ALPHA for short. If all goes to plan, it could be launched as early as 2025, which is sooner than it sounds when it comes to space-based solar power timelines.

Scientists have been aware of the edge the “space-down” approach holds over terrestrial panels for decades. An orbiting plant would be unaffected by weather, atmospheric filtering of light, and the sun's inconvenient habit of setting every evening. SBSP also has the potential to dramatically increase the availability of renewable energy.

.....

The swarm concept is not the only size/cost reduction. The SPS-ALPHA will be primarily made up of thin-film mirrors, instead of the chunkier photovoltaic cells of ground-based solar. These mirrors reflect and concentrate sunlight, and then direct that energy to a central photovoltaic on the back of the satellite's array. Over on the other side of the array, which faces Earth, microwave-power transmission panels will beam the energy down in the form of radio waves.
http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/this-s ... ce-by-2025
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Re: Space based solar beaming power to Earth by 2025.

Post by Tyrannical » Sun Aug 25, 2013 1:09 pm

What was the scifi story where religious robots ran the solar space station?
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Re: Space based solar beaming power to Earth by 2025.

Post by Ian » Sun Aug 25, 2013 2:58 pm

Probably not until much later than that. Mid-century sometime.

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Re: Space based solar beaming power to Earth by 2025.

Post by Azathoth » Sun Aug 25, 2013 4:30 pm

Tyrannical wrote:What was the scifi story where religious robots ran the solar space station?
I Robot
Outside the ordered universe is that amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemes and bubbles at the center of all infinity—the boundless daemon sultan Azathoth, whose name no lips dare speak aloud, and who gnaws hungrily in inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond time and space amidst the muffled, maddening beating of vile drums and the thin monotonous whine of accursed flutes.

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Re: Space based solar beaming power to Earth by 2025.

Post by cronus » Sun Aug 25, 2013 4:40 pm

Pipe dream season kicks in. :tup:
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Re: Space based solar beaming power to Earth by 2025.

Post by mistermack » Sun Aug 25, 2013 8:24 pm

I can't see this being a runner. If the receiver has to be so gigantic, they you might just as well go for a solar array of the same size and price, in the desert. No need for a satellite. The problem is getting the energy to where it's needed.
It's areas of high population density, that need most energy. But if you're going to beam energy from space, it's safer to beam it at areas of low population.

I think that the swarm idea, might actually work, if you had a swarm of individual lasers, in space, all pointing their beams at one collector. Each one could be designed to be too weak to do any damage on it's own, if it pointed at the wrong place.
You could have it controlled, so that it switched off very quickly, if it didn't point at the right spot.

As it's very unlikely that two lasers that happened to malfunction would point at the same place at the same time, the capacity for damage would be pretty low. But when they are all working properly, and pointing at the collecting point, you would have very concentrated energy.
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Re: Space based solar beaming power to Earth by 2025.

Post by Tyrannical » Mon Aug 26, 2013 11:06 am

I wonder what the US will do with orbital microwave death-rays :ask:

I bet you could make a parking lot full of cars explode at a time :{D
Enemy planes / jets? Nothing a quick zap can't fix :{D
Rebel held city? Cook it a block at a time :{D

You hardly even need the rest of the military with these babies!
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Re: Space based solar beaming power to Earth by 2025.

Post by cronus » Mon Aug 26, 2013 11:22 am

Tyrannical wrote:I wonder what the US will do with orbital microwave death-rays :ask:

I bet you could make a parking lot full of cars explode at a time :{D
Enemy planes / jets? Nothing a quick zap can't fix :{D
Rebel held city? Cook it a block at a time :{D

You hardly even need the rest of the military with these babies!
Yes, interesting. Who wouldn't do the same?
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Re: Space based solar beaming power to Earth by 2025.

Post by Warren Dew » Mon Aug 26, 2013 8:02 pm

Tyrannical wrote:I wonder what the US will do with orbital microwave death-rays :ask:

I bet you could make a parking lot full of cars explode at a time :{D
Enemy planes / jets? Nothing a quick zap can't fix :{D
Rebel held city? Cook it a block at a time :{D

You hardly even need the rest of the military with these babies!
That's my worry, too. Although you seem to see this as a good thing rather than a bad thing.

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Re: Space based solar beaming power to Earth by 2025.

Post by pErvinalia » Tue Aug 27, 2013 1:24 am

Sheesh. Have you two not read the article? Microwave was chosen as it is far safer than the oft touted alternative - "laser".
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Re: Space based solar beaming power to Earth by 2025.

Post by Sean Hayden » Tue Aug 27, 2013 5:51 am

I wouldn't sell the idea using that particular picture.

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Re: Space based solar beaming power to Earth by 2025.

Post by pErvinalia » Tue Aug 27, 2013 6:25 am

Yeah, those mirrors on the front edge aren't going to be responsible for capturing much solar energy. It will bounce straight back into space from those.
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Re: Space based solar beaming power to Earth by 2025.

Post by mistermack » Tue Aug 27, 2013 11:44 pm

rEvolutionist wrote:Sheesh. Have you two not read the article? Microwave was chosen as it is far safer than the oft touted alternative - "laser".
Safer, but it seems to be incredibly costly. The Earth-based collector is enormous, probably because the microwaves can't be sent in such a narrow beam as a laser.

If the energy is such low intensity that it doesn't harm humans, then you need a gigantic area as a receiver.
There isn't really much advantage over solar panels, in that case. Ok, you get 24 hour energy, I guess. But at a huge cost.
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Re: Space based solar beaming power to Earth by 2025.

Post by Jason » Tue Aug 27, 2013 11:53 pm

First, that lysergic acid diethylamide induced methamphetamine fueled brain aneurysm will never, ever, be built. Secondly, this NASA guy, who I just assume is tossing salad in a New York subway station bathroom for his next hit of crack, is obviously just ripping off Sim City.

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Re: Space based solar beaming power to Earth by 2025.

Post by pErvinalia » Wed Aug 28, 2013 2:46 am

mistermack wrote:
rEvolutionist wrote:Sheesh. Have you two not read the article? Microwave was chosen as it is far safer than the oft touted alternative - "laser".
Safer, but it seems to be incredibly costly. The Earth-based collector is enormous, probably because the microwaves can't be sent in such a narrow beam as a laser.

If the energy is such low intensity that it doesn't harm humans, then you need a gigantic area as a receiver.
There isn't really much advantage over solar panels, in that case. Ok, you get 24 hour energy, I guess. But at a huge cost.
Apparently you still haven't read the article.
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