Posted on 05/11/2014 12:19:58 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
Imagine looking out over Tokyo Bay from high above and seeing a man-made island in the harbor, 3 kilometers long. A massive net is stretched over the island and studded with 5 billion tiny rectifying antennas, which convert microwave energy into DC electricity. Also on the island is a substation that sends that electricity coursing through a submarine cable to Tokyo, to help keep the factories of the Keihin industrial zone humming and the neon lights of Shibuya shining bright.
But you can’t even see the most interesting part. Several giant solar collectors in geosynchronous orbit are beaming microwaves down to the island from 36 000 km above Earth.
It’s been the subject of many previous studies and the stuff of sci-fi for decades, but space-based solar power could at last become a reality—and within 25 years, according to a proposal from researchers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The agency, which leads the world in research on space-based solar power systems, now has a technology road map that suggests a series of ground and orbital demonstrations leading to the development in the 2030s of a 1-gigawatt commercial system—about the same output as a typical nuclear power plant. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at spectrum.ieee.org ...
Yawn.
Saw a demonstration of rectennas at MSFC in 1971, was supposed to be orbited and operational by oh, 1975.
That’s um, 40 years ago.
Good luck to JAXA. Maybe the fishermen won’t shut them down on this little adventure.
I have an idea...
I'll be the first to decry "Global Warming."
GE and Westinghouse began selling light water nuke plants to the Japanese in the 1970’s. Cheaper and more feasible. It may be after the recent nuclear catastrophes—though caused by earthquakes—Japan is reconsidering an old idea.
Just wait until one of these babies starts wobbling out of control and disintegrates into a couple of million pieces of space shrapnel.
The science is settled. STFU.
If the space based solar thing doesn’t work out, they can build a fusion reactor on the artificial island.
After 60 years and $125 billion in R&D, fusion will be generating electricity any day now.
And if you’re not averse to free-range dining, the occasional pre-roasted seagull falling out of the sky is a nice complement with any meal…
Great, as if technology hasn't put enough people out of work. Now chefs and waiters will be obsolete when they can cook dinner and drop it onto your plate at the same time.
Where is the money coming from? The per capita debt is something like $80,000
LOL! You'll shoot your eye out.
AKA ‘catching dinner on the fly’...........
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