Solar power from space

CB Droege 16 Oct, 2007 at 6:06pm ET Article published in Tech

Comments

1. 
   17 Oct 2007 ~ 9:19am GHoosdum But when the beam misses, entire city blocks will catch on fire.
   
   Or was that just SimCity?
2. 
   17 Oct 2007 ~ 9:41am CB That was SimCity, and that's because they were using microwave beams to transmit the energy back to earth... Which would start to cook stuff if it missed it's target, but otherwise would be the most efficient way to transmit energy from space to the surface.
   
   An 'electromagnetic' beam is much safer, but also less efficient.
3. 
   17 Oct 2007 ~ 9:45am GHoosdum Microwaves are electromagnetic waves. Aside from wavelength, I fail to see a difference. In fact, though the article simply used the more generic "electromagnetic" term, they very well could be planning to use microwave beam.
4. 
   17 Oct 2007 ~ 9:52am CB Well, that's why I put 'electromagnetic' in quotes like I did. The article isn't very clear, but I was assuming that they didn't mean microwaves, since that research has been shot down repeatedly for it's high danger.
   
   Energy researchers have been talking about beaming energy in from space since there have been geosynchronous satellites, but a viable beaming technology has never really been found. I tried to figure out more about what the Pentagon had endorced, but I couldn't find more than repeats of this same story (which is why I didn't write a full article).
   
   Solar energy satellites are right up there with space elevators and solar-sails on my 'favorite future technologies' list.
5. 
   17 Oct 2007 ~ 9:55am GHoosdum Since it's the Pentagon endorsing the project, I'm sure a little bit of high danger from the use of microwaves is perfectly acceptable.
6. 
   17 Oct 2007 ~ 9:58am CB I didn't think about that... Maybe they want to use it as a covert weapon.
   

   Pentagon wrote:

   We regret that half your population was accidentally microwaved by our energy beam firing accident. Rest assured that it will not happen again... unless your country steps out of line...