4 ms·

Could they concentrate the energy and beam it down to earth as a source for electricity generation on the ground?

ianhowson 1y ago
This is the best idea to come out of this whole scheme. Space solar panels are super cheap and efficient? Prove it! Launch them and transmit the energy down. This is orders of magnitude easier than the original proposal -- and yet still nonsensical.
- zxexz 1y ago
  We could use the energy to power a data center on earth!
  - ethbr1 1y ago
    Your idea lacks depth. ... could we instead beam the energy down to a data center on the sea floor?
- boutell 1y ago
  An old idea, impractical not maybe not absolutely impossible. Somehow they made it worse
- phs318u 1y ago
  Beaming power down to Earth from space-based solar collectors is a concept that's been around for a while. "Dr. Glaser is best known as the inventor of the Solar Power Satellite concept, which he first presented in the journal Science for November 22, 1968 (“Power from the Sun: It’s Future”). In 1973 he was granted a U.S. patent on the Solar Power Satellite to supply power from space for use on the Earth." One thing that always struck me was that you wouldn't want to be living near the "collectors". A very small angular error in beaming could result in being literally microwaved. https://nss.org/in-memoriam-peter-e-glaser-1923-2014/ https://nss.org/in-memoriam-peter-e-glaser-1923-2014/
  - Reason077 1y ago
    > "A very small angular error in beaming could result in being literally microwaved." One of the SimCity games had this as an occasional disaster event. You had to make sure your ground collector stations weren't too close to the rest of the city or risk setting your buildings on fire.
    - emmelaich 1y ago
      Reminds me of the malfunctioning space laser news story from Robocop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CrTJEY8zNs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CrTJEY8zNs Such fun.
tonyarkles 1y ago
Look… I played a lot of SimCity 2000 back in the day and that doesn’t turn out well :D
FridgeSeal 1y ago
Energy efficiency? From my AI data centre project?? Get out of here, we’re only interested in getting rich, we don’t actually care about doing something _useful_ for people.
- devops000 1y ago
  Read "Ayn Rand - the virtuous egoist"
falcor84 1y ago
My thermodynamics is rusty, but if they could concentrate it, that would mean that it's part of the "free energy" that could be used to power the data center itself, and given that it's impossible in practice to have perfect efficiency, there will always be excess heat that cannot be concentrated (entropy going up).
- alfiedotwtf 1y ago
  It looks like my thermodynamics is rustier than yours!

This is the best idea to come out of this whole scheme. Space solar panels are super cheap and efficient? Prove it! Launch them and transmit the energy down. This is orders of magnitude easier than the original proposal -- and yet still nonsensical.

zxexz 1y ago
We could use the energy to power a data center on earth!
- ethbr1 1y ago
  Your idea lacks depth. ... could we instead beam the energy down to a data center on the sea floor?
boutell 1y ago
An old idea, impractical not maybe not absolutely impossible. Somehow they made it worse
phs318u 1y ago
Beaming power down to Earth from space-based solar collectors is a concept that's been around for a while. "Dr. Glaser is best known as the inventor of the Solar Power Satellite concept, which he first presented in the journal Science for November 22, 1968 (“Power from the Sun: It’s Future”). In 1973 he was granted a U.S. patent on the Solar Power Satellite to supply power from space for use on the Earth." One thing that always struck me was that you wouldn't want to be living near the "collectors". A very small angular error in beaming could result in being literally microwaved. https://nss.org/in-memoriam-peter-e-glaser-1923-2014/ https://nss.org/in-memoriam-peter-e-glaser-1923-2014/
- Reason077 1y ago
  > "A very small angular error in beaming could result in being literally microwaved." One of the SimCity games had this as an occasional disaster event. You had to make sure your ground collector stations weren't too close to the rest of the city or risk setting your buildings on fire.
  - emmelaich 1y ago
    Reminds me of the malfunctioning space laser news story from Robocop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CrTJEY8zNs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CrTJEY8zNs Such fun.

tonyarkles 1y ago

Look… I played a lot of SimCity 2000 back in the day and that doesn’t turn out well :D

FridgeSeal 1y ago

Energy efficiency? From my AI data centre project?? Get out of here, we’re only interested in getting rich, we don’t actually care about doing something _useful_ for people.

devops000 1y ago
Read "Ayn Rand - the virtuous egoist"

falcor84 1y ago

My thermodynamics is rusty, but if they could concentrate it, that would mean that it's part of the "free energy" that could be used to power the data center itself, and given that it's impossible in practice to have perfect efficiency, there will always be excess heat that cannot be concentrated (entropy going up).

alfiedotwtf 1y ago
It looks like my thermodynamics is rustier than yours!