Solor satilites solve energy crisis

[greatcloudlives]

Geriald Oniel in the book the third industrial revolution suggested we build a string of solor satilites in orbit around the earth. These satilites can send converted microwaves to receiving stations on Earth to produce electrical power and solve the energy crisis.

 

[Aussie Pete]

Geriald Oniel in the book the third industrial revolution suggested we build a string of solor satilites in orbit around the earth. These satilites can send converted microwaves to receiving stations on Earth to produce electrical power and solve the energy crisis.[/QUOTE

It sounds like an extraordinary and complex solution to a much simpler problem. The only disadvantage to ground based solar is cloud cover. That reduces the solar panel output. It can be solved by careful siting and by increasing the number of panels. I just wonder what benefit there is to a space based system?

 

[BobRyan]

Geriald Oniel in the book the third industrial revolution suggested we build a string of solor satilites in orbit around the earth. These satilites can send converted microwaves to receiving stations on Earth to produce electrical power and solve the energy crisis.

That system would fry a lot of wild life. Particularly birds.

 

[greatcloudlives]

Solor power is affected by the angle of the sun after midday and clouds also they don't work at night. In space all these problems are not a factor.

 

[greatcloudlives]

Wind power kills thousands of birds a year.As for microwaves that is just the price for having affordable energy.

 

[Aussie Pete]

Solor power is affected by the angle of the sun after midday and clouds also they don't work at night. In space all these problems are not a factor.

That is true but it's a huge cost to get anything into space. I used to work on high power microwave transmitters. They can boil the fluid in the eye. Supposedly birds and aircraft won't be affected. Really? We turned a transmitter onto some steel wool that had been loaded with oxygen. It burst into flames. It was less power than your normal microwave oven, just a different frequency

 

[greatcloudlives]

Also in space there is no practal limit to how large an area used for the satellite.

 

[Dan1988]

Geriald Oniel in the book the third industrial revolution suggested we build a string of solor satilites in orbit around the earth. These satilites can send converted microwaves to receiving stations on Earth to produce electrical power and solve the energy crisis.

I've never heard of any energy crisis. Here in the land down under, we have enough coal to supply the whole world for 100 years and we have enough gas to supply the world for another 100 years.
We have enough oil to meet our needs for a long time to come.
Those solar satellites sound very expensive, coal, oil and gas are cheap and they provide instant energy 24/7 so I don't think anyone will be interested in funding other sources of energy while we have so much already available.

 

[Aussie Pete]

Wind power kills thousands of birds a year.As for microwaves that is just the price for having affordable energy.

I'm not sure that society would accept killing thousands of air travellers.

 

[timewerx]

Geriald Oniel in the book the third industrial revolution suggested we build a string of solor satilites in orbit around the earth. These satilites can send converted microwaves to receiving stations on Earth to produce electrical power and solve the energy crisis.

The system can easily be weaponized!

 

[greatcloudlives]

Aircraft would just have to avoid the satellite transmissions. The distuction of birds is just the cost of affordable energy for all.

 

[timewerx]

That system would fry a lot of wild life. Particularly birds.

Targetted use of the system can also be used to fry "terrorists"

 

[Aussie Pete]

There is a company in Australia that has developed sensors and software to track space junk. Fragments of satellites can put working satellites out of action quite easily. Space is not as big as you think directly above the earth. Those massive new satellites will break up eventually, leaving more debris to deal with.

 

[timewerx]

That is true but it's a huge cost to get anything into space. I used to work on high power microwave transmitters. They can boil the fluid in the eye. Supposedly birds and aircraft won't be affected. Really? We turned a transmitter onto some steel wool that had been loaded with oxygen. It burst into flames. It was less power than your normal microwave oven, just a different frequency

They'd probably use MASERS to achieve high transmission efficiency but the concentrated beams are more dangerous.

 

[greatcloudlives]

Eventually we will need to do something like this. Also nuclear fusion which is safer than fission.

 

[greatcloudlives]

The satellite system would pay for itself immediately.

 

[timewerx]

I really don't like the idea.

A spy, terrorist, disgruntled, suicidal employee at the controls can destroy a whole city with this system by artificially creating a firestorm.

They can also use the system to destroy responding army units like tanks, fighter planes, etc.

A well thought-out take over can be difficult to repel, short of destroying the satellites one-by-one in space. Which in itself leads to further big problems (destroyed satellite debris which either fall to earth and also deny space travel for years)

The whole system is essentially a superweapon.

Who says it can't be used at night as well?? Dayside satellites can simply relay microwave energy to other satellites via MASERS until it reaches nightside satellites.

 

[greatcloudlives]

Land availabilities are at a premium, in space there is more area to use.

 

[SkyWriting]

Geriald Oniel in the book the third industrial revolution suggested we build a string of solar satellites in orbit around the earth. These satellites can send converted microwaves to receiving stations on Earth to produce electrical power and solve the energy crisis.

There is no energy crisis. Just an imagination crisis.

We Could Power The Entire World By Harnessing Solar Energy
www.forbes.com › sites › quora › 2016/09/22
That means 1.2% of the Sahara desert is sufficient to cover all of the energy needs of the world in solar energy.


renewable energy in resources Archives - Saving with Solar
www.savingwithsolar.com.au › category › renewable-energy-in-resou...
Mar 4, 2020 - New research in Science magazine shows that installing solar and wind farms in the Sahara Desert could generate massive amounts of electricity

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

It's an old idea that still being researched. Wikipedia has a good overview.