3 ms·

The US is looking into this too: https://www.geekwire.com/2020/space-force-will-test-solar-power-transmission-x-37b-space-planes-next-mystery-flight/ https://ww

The US is looking into this too: https://www.geekwire.com/2020/space-force-will-test-solar-power-transmission-x-37b-space-planes-next-mystery-flight/ https://www.geekwire.com/2020/space-force-will-test-solar-po... But I'm always pretty skeptical of space-based solar power proposals. First, the receiving array has to be really large or the energy density of the beam will be dangerous to birds / planes, etc. Second, utility is limited because we already have a huge fusion reactor in the sky beaming energy to us which we simply need to build receivers for.

bserge 6y ago
Wouldn't need an energy beam if it could be routed through cables on a space elevator, which is another thing proposed by many people to make space exploration easier.
- dave4420 6y ago
  Last time I checked, any sort of cable or elevator to space was impractical, given the strength and density requirements. Has that changed? Also, a cable would have to attach to the Earth at the equator, which is some distance from the UK.
  - Sanzig 6y ago
    It has not. Humanity is still a few materials science breakthroughs and a Nobel in physics or two away from a space elevator tether that can operate on Earth. Many have suggested carbon nanotubes, but nobody knows if you can actually practically manufacture a tether out of them.
- Shivetya 6y ago
  I really doubt that by the time technology lets us build a space elevator that we would actually find it worthwhile to build it, at least here on Earth. Instead those resources and technology development would be better used in creating the manufacturing processes needed to operate in space by mining the moon and capturing asteroids. You don't need a whole lot of manufacturing lifted into space before you can make it self sustaining and growing of its own work.
dave4420 6y ago
To be fair, this avoids the problem of night (at the cost of the equinox becoming a problem) (and to some extent the weather as well? I forget). I wouldn’t bank on it, but I’m glad it’s being explored.
scsilver 6y ago
Id rather put public cloud up there, crunching numbers and putting off heat into space.
- rotexo 6y ago
  Aside from launch costs, isn’t heat management one of the hardest parts about schemes like that? I’m obviously not an aerospace engineer, but I thought the vacuum breaks most heat dissipation schemes
  - VistaBrokeMyPC 6y ago
    Heat management is indeed difficult in space. You're basically limited to emitting in infrared since things like fans or phase change cooling has no medium to dump the heat to.
  - scsilver 6y ago
    No convection or conduction, but you have radiation heat transfer. Not a space thermodynamicist, I wonder if it would work best crunching number in the shade of the earth and then just recharge in the sun.
jacques_chester 6y ago
> Second, utility is limited because we already have a huge fusion reactor in the sky beaming energy to us which we simply need to build receivers for. Said fusion reactor's transmissions are blocked by the earth's bulk for half the day on average, including peak demand hours. The rest of the time it can be partially absorbed by cloud cover, greatly increasing the necessity of spare capacity over extremely wide areas. Space-based solar doesn't have these issues. It has unfiltered sunlight 24 hours per day.

bserge 6y ago

Wouldn't need an energy beam if it could be routed through cables on a space elevator, which is another thing proposed by many people to make space exploration easier.

dave4420 6y ago
Last time I checked, any sort of cable or elevator to space was impractical, given the strength and density requirements. Has that changed? Also, a cable would have to attach to the Earth at the equator, which is some distance from the UK.
- Sanzig 6y ago
  It has not. Humanity is still a few materials science breakthroughs and a Nobel in physics or two away from a space elevator tether that can operate on Earth. Many have suggested carbon nanotubes, but nobody knows if you can actually practically manufacture a tether out of them.
Shivetya 6y ago
I really doubt that by the time technology lets us build a space elevator that we would actually find it worthwhile to build it, at least here on Earth. Instead those resources and technology development would be better used in creating the manufacturing processes needed to operate in space by mining the moon and capturing asteroids. You don't need a whole lot of manufacturing lifted into space before you can make it self sustaining and growing of its own work.

dave4420 6y ago

To be fair, this avoids the problem of night (at the cost of the equinox becoming a problem) (and to some extent the weather as well? I forget). I wouldn’t bank on it, but I’m glad it’s being explored.

scsilver 6y ago

Id rather put public cloud up there, crunching numbers and putting off heat into space.

rotexo 6y ago
Aside from launch costs, isn’t heat management one of the hardest parts about schemes like that? I’m obviously not an aerospace engineer, but I thought the vacuum breaks most heat dissipation schemes
- VistaBrokeMyPC 6y ago
  Heat management is indeed difficult in space. You're basically limited to emitting in infrared since things like fans or phase change cooling has no medium to dump the heat to.
- scsilver 6y ago
  No convection or conduction, but you have radiation heat transfer. Not a space thermodynamicist, I wonder if it would work best crunching number in the shade of the earth and then just recharge in the sun.

jacques_chester 6y ago

> Second, utility is limited because we already have a huge fusion reactor in the sky beaming energy to us which we simply need to build receivers for. Said fusion reactor's transmissions are blocked by the earth's bulk for half the day on average, including peak demand hours. The rest of the time it can be partially absorbed by cloud cover, greatly increasing the necessity of spare capacity over extremely wide areas. Space-based solar doesn't have these issues. It has unfiltered sunlight 24 hours per day.