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| Science & Technology |
| Space Power |
| 2012-04-13 |
| As spaceborne energy-harvesting schemes go, this one seems faintly possible — an array of curved mirrors directing sunlight toward solar cells, their energy production microwaved down to Earth. It’s so realistic, actually, that NASA is providing funding for a proof-of-concept study. Harry Stine rules! Beats burning raw materials for synthetics industry for energy |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #17 "Death Ray from Space. Does anyone think this will seriously fly" > .... IT ALREADY HAS - YEARS AGO. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2012-04-13 23:16 |
| #16 was Willard Whyte involved? Was he holding a cat? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2012-04-13 20:48 |
| #15 I understand economy of scale, I also understand putting all your eggs in one basket is rarely wise. The US is a very large country, there is no reason we should only consider one option. Especially options that demand an army of union employees to run and that create targets for enemy exploitation. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2012-04-13 18:44 |
| #14 I regret to say that I only have but 1.080 kilowatts of solar cells to give to my country. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2012-04-13 16:13 |
| #13 Ever heard of the "economy of scale", Rjschwarz? Nope, tipover. The issue addressed in the Stine link I've provided. How much was flushed down the drain on Iraqi "nation building", newc? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2012-04-13 16:01 |
| #12 More bright ideas. |
| Posted by: newc 2012-04-13 12:51 |
| #11 keep the gov't completely out of it and let private enterprise and the free market lead the way and I'd say sounds good. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2012-04-13 12:48 |
| #10 Self replicating solar panels on the moon. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2012-04-13 12:23 |
| #9 The program would hinge on cost, engineering and dangerous side effects from the microwave power transmissions. I suspect that would create a definite "no fly" zone due to effects to passengers and equipment. I wonder if it would fry birds, bats, bees as well. Solution looking for a problem. |
| Posted by: tipover 2012-04-13 11:58 |
| #8 Try everything. Drill, frak, build nuke plants, cut red tape to encourage private solar on rooftops, mandate flexifuel on new engines, and set prizes for anyone that can make wind or tidal power or whatever work. After that let the market fight it out. |
| Posted by: Rjschwarz 2012-04-13 11:44 |
| #7 "Drill baby drill" |
| Posted by: bman 2012-04-13 10:26 |
| #6 Before everyone jumps on the solar power in space bandwagon (which was the initial proposal for the ISS back in the Reagan era) consider the cost. It costs millions to put a bag of M&Ms up there let along a giant, fragile, solar array. This is just a multi-decade pipe-dream. Now if this was made from high ground, using lunar materials and all it would be practical but we are a long way from having that sort of space presence. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2012-04-13 09:05 |
| #5 "High Frontier" by o'Neill many years ago. Same idea. Then there's Asimov who had a collection staion on Mercury, sending the energy back in a narrow beam. The robot in charge started getting whacky and we had a robot's rules of order story. |
| Posted by: Richard Aubrey 2012-04-13 08:45 |
| #4 Does anyone seriously think this will fly, once the Left/Greens figure that bit out. IMO, watermelons' arguments only work on people who: (i) Comfortably off. (ii) Believe this to be a natural state of affairs, which will last for ever. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2012-04-13 06:48 |
| #3 Actually they were all set to do this during the 60's to power los angeles but guess who sued them and ran the company out of money. Environmentalists. They claimed that the collector would damage the ecology of death valley. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick - Halliburton Lost Drill Bit Division 2012-04-13 06:27 |
| #2 Death ray from space. Does anyone seriously think this will fly, once the Left/Greens figure that bit out. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2012-04-13 05:30 |
| #1 of course. price = demand/supply. so mostly what will happen is that oil will be used to make plastics. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2012-04-13 05:09 |