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Space-Based Solar Power Beams Become Next Energy Frontier
popularmechanics.com ^
| January 2008 issue.
| Erik Sofge
Posted on 11/10/2007 3:48:05 AM PST by shove_it
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To: hippyhater
7,641,193 Trillion Btu / 3412 Btu per kWH = 2,239 Trillion kWH
= 2,239 Million MegaWH
= 2,239 Thousand GigaWH
= 2,239 TerraWH
I think they are still way off.
But not a single satellite but a continuous band of solar arrays circling the earth? Maybe 275,000 km in total length? That would get closer, with shadows and angle of incidence you would have probably a 1/3 the available power of a continuous flat array. I think they are still way off.
41
posted on
11/10/2007 7:14:35 AM PST
by
thackney
(life is fragile, handle with prayer)
To: hippyhater
Oops, Terra Watt years, not Terra Watt hours.
Okay, it is in the ball park.
Thanks for the information about what they intended to build, I didn’t catch that.
So theoritically possible. I wonder how many times greater than the World’s GDP would be the cost of building such a structure. Pretty tough to calculate since the scale of the project would make meaningless most of the cost values we could find.
42
posted on
11/10/2007 7:19:19 AM PST
by
thackney
(life is fragile, handle with prayer)
To: BlazingArizona
>Putting entire Chinese factories in orbit and wafting down palletloads of high value manufactured goods
Right. And when Chinese
get pissed over a recall,
a load will 'waft down'
onto say, New York...
Orbital anything will
someday kill millions.
To: thackney
The NASA doc seems to back up their theory. At the very least, we have a neat new weapon to keep the CHicoms in check.
To: KevinDavis; AdmSmith; Berosus; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Fred Nerks; ...
Thanks kevindavis.
orbiting satellites that send solar power back down to earth to fight global warming... massive orbiting solar arrays, situated to remain in sunlight nearly continuously, will beam multiple megawatts of energy to Earth via microwave beams. The energy will be transmitted to mesh receivers placed over open farmland and in strategic remote locations, then fed into the nation's electrical grid.
I think these receivers should be located on some beautiful beachfront property I can sell them in Florida. Or for those who don't know, on the Brooklyn Bridge (I'm also selling that).
The late Gerard K. O'Neill used to tout this as one of the waves of the future that he foresaw, one of the great benefits to moving human civ out into space. I'm surprised I've never read how the technology for the so-called space elevator concept could be used to build an extension cord to conduct the generated electricity to the surface from geostationary satellites.
I declare a patent on that idea, BTW. ;')
45
posted on
11/10/2007 8:37:40 AM PST
by
SunkenCiv
(Profile updated Thursday, November 8, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: Uncledave
For the renewable energy ping list.
I remember seeing some proposals like this in the 1970’s.
46
posted on
11/10/2007 8:45:01 AM PST
by
Kevmo
(We should withdraw from Iraq — via Tehran. And Duncan Hunter is just the man to get that job done.)
To: Cvengr
massive orbiting solar arrays ... will beam multiple megawatts of energy to Earth via microwave beams. The energy will be transmitted to mesh receivers placed over open farmland and in strategic remote locations, then fed into the nations electrical grid Around these locations there will be an explosion in KFC and other fast-food franchises...
47
posted on
11/10/2007 8:49:45 AM PST
by
mikrofon
(Tastes Like Chicken. -TM)
To: stefanbatory
and we all know how realistic of a guidepost simcity can be...The results of raising and lowering taxes is spot on...at least back when I played it in the early mid ninties.
To: mikrofon
Either that or some nice satellite based weapons systems. (and you thought that nifty GPS in your car helped you track your milage.)
49
posted on
11/10/2007 9:32:22 AM PST
by
Cvengr
(Every believer is a grenade. Arrogance is the grenade pin. Pull the pin and fragment your life.)
To: spacejunkie
Even the founder has abandoned the company. The real players will be the major corporations.
50
posted on
11/10/2007 9:36:10 AM PST
by
RightWhale
(anti-razors are pro-life)
To: thackney
good number crunching. Once again it’s an area vs volume ratio. Solar has to cover huge AREAS, oil/coal is already bunched up into small VOLUMES.
51
posted on
11/10/2007 2:41:19 PM PST
by
timer
(n/0=n=nx0)
To: shove_it
52
posted on
11/10/2007 6:56:02 PM PST
by
anymouse
To: thackney
Thanks so much for the calculations! I love when someone actually puts pencil to paper.
To: shove_it
This kind of thing is usually done by a megalomaniac intent on world domination, like Scaramanga in the Man with the Golden Gun, Gustav Graves in Die Another Day or Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever.
54
posted on
11/12/2007 9:41:52 AM PST
by
colorado tanker
(I'm unmoderated - just ask Bill O'Reilly)
To: burzum
Yeah, and the first time a birdie migrates through the beam, or they discover a purple titmouse burrow near the collector the greenies will nix this form of energy too.
55
posted on
11/12/2007 9:52:06 AM PST
by
Kozak
(Anti Shahada: There is no god named Allah, and Muhammed is a false prophet)
To: thackney
Is that 1,365 watts per sq. meter per day?
To: shove_it
Space-based solar power may become an important energy source as fossil-fuel supplies dwindle in midcentury: A single 1-kilometer-wide solar array could collect enough power in a year to rival the entire worlds oil reserves. BS
57
posted on
11/12/2007 10:16:13 AM PST
by
DungeonMaster
(Al Gore, the Jessie Jackson of weather.)
To: NYCRebublican
Is that 1,365 watts per sq. meter per day? Watts is a measurement of power, not energy. It is an instantaneous unit. You need to measure "watt x time" to have a energy measurement during a duration. Typically it is measured in kiloWattHours or larger units.
58
posted on
11/12/2007 10:35:23 AM PST
by
thackney
(life is fragile, handle with prayer)
To: thackney
To: thackney
A band as shown which is in geosync orbiting around the equator would have 75% of its surface dark at any one time.
A flat donut in a polar orbit would have 100% of its surface in sunlight all the time. Of course, that way you’d need to be constantly aiming the microwave beam since the ground below you would be moving. And microwave transmission efficiency would fall off whenever the receiver grid wasn’t directly below.
60
posted on
11/12/2007 11:31:11 AM PST
by
Kellis91789
(Liberals aren't atheists. They worship government -- including human sacrifices.)
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