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It launched successfully. I’ll point out that a space-based solar array with a microwave power downlink was on the front cover of IEEE Spectrum around 1971. Th

It launched successfully. I’ll point out that a space-based solar array with a microwave power downlink was on the front cover of IEEE Spectrum around 1971. The article ran the numbers and pointed out the technical challenges. So, this idea is not new, but it hasn’t gained enough support over the last fifty years to get a project off the ground.

xxr 4y ago
I first learned about the idea from SimCity 2000[0]. Not saying it was the impetus here, but I wonder what amount of the continuing interest in orbital power is due to SC2k. (I suspect my experience is not unique here on HN, but I wonder about the "general" public.) [0]https://simcity.fandom.com/wiki/Microwave_Power_Plant https://simcity.fandom.com/wiki/Microwave_Power_Plant
- LarryMullins 4y ago
  Seems plausible, for millennials at least. SimCity 2000 was one of those games that seemed to be in every public school computer lab in the late 90s and early 00s. Tons of people played it, more than just the usual audience for management/business sims.
DennisP 4y ago
Modern designs are a lot different than those monolithic '70s designs. Now it's a bunch of mass-produced small parts self-assembled in orbit, with a phased-array transmitter. Manufacturing's way cheaper that way, once you start scaling a bit. (See NASA's SPS-ALPHA project or the book The Case for Space Solar Power.) The other big change is the prospect of $50/kg to LEO with Starship. Falcon Heavy's advertised price is already down to $600/kg.
tzs 4y ago
It's been an idea in science fiction even longer. E.g., the 1941 short story "Reason" by Isaac Asimov was set in an orbiting power station with a microwave downlink [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason_(short_story) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason_(short_story)
- waltbosz 4y ago
  I was wondering if anyone would mention "Reason". The power station is just the setting for the story, the plot is about a humorous argument between the two humans running the station and a robot who they are training to take over their jobs. I wonder where Asimov got his idea for the technology. Did he just make it up? Or was inspired by existing technology of the 1940s.

xxr 4y ago

I first learned about the idea from SimCity 2000[0]. Not saying it was the impetus here, but I wonder what amount of the continuing interest in orbital power is due to SC2k. (I suspect my experience is not unique here on HN, but I wonder about the "general" public.) [0]https://simcity.fandom.com/wiki/Microwave_Power_Plant https://simcity.fandom.com/wiki/Microwave_Power_Plant

LarryMullins 4y ago
Seems plausible, for millennials at least. SimCity 2000 was one of those games that seemed to be in every public school computer lab in the late 90s and early 00s. Tons of people played it, more than just the usual audience for management/business sims.

DennisP 4y ago

Modern designs are a lot different than those monolithic '70s designs. Now it's a bunch of mass-produced small parts self-assembled in orbit, with a phased-array transmitter. Manufacturing's way cheaper that way, once you start scaling a bit. (See NASA's SPS-ALPHA project or the book The Case for Space Solar Power.) The other big change is the prospect of $50/kg to LEO with Starship. Falcon Heavy's advertised price is already down to $600/kg.

tzs 4y ago

It's been an idea in science fiction even longer. E.g., the 1941 short story "Reason" by Isaac Asimov was set in an orbiting power station with a microwave downlink [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason_(short_story) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason_(short_story)

waltbosz 4y ago
I was wondering if anyone would mention "Reason". The power station is just the setting for the story, the plot is about a humorous argument between the two humans running the station and a robot who they are training to take over their jobs. I wonder where Asimov got his idea for the technology. Did he just make it up? Or was inspired by existing technology of the 1940s.