CNN: Scientists find a way to transmit solar energy ftom space down to Earth.

[super-heated plasma]

How cool is this?
CNN exclusive: A solar panel in space is collecting energy that could one day be beamed to anywhere on Earth https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/23/americas/space-solar-energy-pentagon-science-scn-intl/index.html

Scientists working for the Pentagon have successfully tested a solar panel the size of a pizza box in space, designed as a prototype for a future system to send electricity from space back to any point on Earth.

"Some visions have space solar matching or exceeding the largest power plants today -- multiple gigawatts -- so enough for a city," he said.

 

[ILikeFeet]

you mean beam electricity to earth. cause the sun already transmit solar energy pretty well

EDIT: oh

The unit has yet to actually send power directly back to Earth, but that technology has already been proven.

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[The Smoking Man]

Cool, now when's our space elevator?

 

[davepoobond]

Cool what can we blow up with it

 

[Chaosblade]

OP's premise seems a little different than the article. I actually kind of don't understand the premise of the article, we've had solar panels in space for years now. The interesting part is basically glossed over.

The unit has yet to actually send power directly back to Earth, but that technology has already been proven.

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I'm curious how this works, in a way that isn't basically a weapon. Really powerful, highly focused microwaves seem pretty dangerous.

I guess that's near the end of the article.

Beyond that, scientists will have to test sending the energy back to Earth. The panels would know precisely where to send the microwaves -- and not accidentally fire it at the wrong target -- using a technique called "retro-directive beam control." This sends a pilot signal up from the destination antenna on Earth to the panels in space.

The microwave beams would only be transmitted once the pilot signal was received, meaning the receiver was in place below and ready. The microwaves -- which would easily be turned into electricity on Earth -- could be sent to any point on the planet with a receiver, Jaffe said.

He also allayed any future fear that bad actors could use the technology to create a giant space laser. The size of antenna needed to direct the energy to create a destructive beam would be so huge, it would be noticed in the years or months it took to be assembled. "It would be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible," he said, to weaponize the solar power from space.

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Color me unconvinced!

 

[Yoshimitsu126]

Cloud gaming redeemed?

 

[AstronaughtE]

 

[loco]

 

[Perkin_Warbeck]

I had no idea we already knew how to beam power down from space. That's pretty wild. The fact that they can have a solar panel up there isn't as interesting.

 

[Deleted member 22630]

I had no idea we already knew how to beam power down from space. That's pretty wild. The fact that they can have a solar panel up there isn't as interesting.

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We actually know a lot a long time ago it's just tech finally caught up.

 

[Sheepinator]

Is it called Project Icarus?

 

[Dale Copper]

 

[Psittacus]

I'm curious how this works, in a way that isn't basically a weapon. Really powerful, highly focused microwaves seem pretty dangerous.

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When they were first developed solar thermal power plants would move the focal point of the mirror array slightly higher than the tower instead of distributing it. They had to stop doing that because it kept setting birds on fire.

 

[ThatCrazyGuy]

So in the future we have huge solar panel farms the size of cities floating around in orbit beaming down energy?

Is this gonna we weaponized somehow....

 

[Lost Lemurian]

Cool, now when's our space elevator?

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It's one of my greatest hopes that I live to see a space elevator actually built.

 

[Deleted member 22630]

So in the future we have huge solar panel farms the size of cities floating around in orbit beaming down energy?

Is this gonna we weaponized somehow....

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Tech works like this, Weaponize first; Otherize maybe.

 

[MisterSnrub]

Marjorie Taylor Green vindicated

 

[TwinBahamut]

So in the future we have huge solar panel farms the size of cities floating around in orbit beaming down energy?

Is this gonna we weaponized somehow....

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There are much more efficient ways of blowing stuff up than giant space death rays... People have the weirdest reactions to the word "microwaves" sometimes. If nothing else, even if someone wanted to spend trillions of dollars squandering a potential world-changing technology on a stupid death ray, it would still be safer and cleaner than the piles of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons sitting around right now.

But nothing about this is really new technology, just a possible test of an implementation of technology that has been talked about for half a century. The barrier is cost, not technology.

 

[Archaic]

SimCity 2000 lied to me. We were supposed to have these Microwave plants by 2020.

 

[MobileSuitReactor]

 

[GameAddict411]

Isn't cheaper to just build the solar array on earth? There must be transmission loss by beaming it to earth that outweigh the reduced solar radiation on earth. This is ignoring the huge cost needed to make it work on large scale.

 

[TheMadTitan]

OP's premise seems a little different than the article. I actually kind of don't understand the premise of the article, we've had solar panels in space for years now. The interesting part is basically glossed over.

I'm curious how this works, in a way that isn't basically a weapon. Really powerful, highly focused microwaves seem pretty dangerous.

I guess that's near the end of the article.

Color me unconvinced!

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I can believe it, all of the beam weapons in Gundam were massive as fuck, so I'm sure we'd notice building a laser satellite.

 

[ken_matthews]

So they invented a space death ray?

 

[Halbrand]

 

[Randolph Freelander]

"Some visions have space solar matching or exceeding the largest power plants today -- multiple gigawatts -- so enough for a city," he said.

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Also enough for a flux capacitor







Biff, you killed my father, prepare to die

 

[BasilZero]

Dyson sphere production when

 

[Deleted member 4461]

TAIYOHHHHHH

 

[Ether_Snake]

Isn't cheaper to just build the solar array on earth? There must be transmission loss by beaming it to earth that outweigh the reduced solar radiation on earth. This is ignoring the huge cost needed to make it work on large scale.

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Well you can't beam it around easily on Earth and in space you can catch solar energy 24/7.

 

[Echo]

Gundam 00, space elevator conflicts here we come!

 

[SolidSnakeBoy]

It's one of my greatest hopes that I live to see a space elevator actually built.

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in college for one of my writing classes I had to write a paper on space elevators. Researched the different literature on it, the short of it is that we know how to build most of it except the cable. Carbon nanotubes have just enough strength to support the tension, but we do not know of a way to manufacture them in scale in such a way that they maintain their microscopic strength. Your best bet would be one on the moon, where it could be built out of good ol steel.

 

[peppermints]

That's awesome. My daughter was reading a comic today where they did just that, but from the moon. Called CatStronauts. Really funny and great for younger kids.

 

[wenis]

Cool, now when's our space elevator?

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Much more interested in the murder slingshot we use to shoot our garbage into the sun and occasionally a 100% verifiable bad guy. That should use solar energy to really give the oomf we need to launch garbage and 100% proven very bad people into the sun with.

 

[Lost Lemurian]

in college for one of my writing classes I had to write a paper on space elevators. Researched the different literature on it, the short of it is that we know how to build most of it except the cable. Carbon nanotubes have just enough strength to support the tension, but we do not know of a way to manufacture them in scale in such a way that they maintain their microscopic strength. Your best bet would be one on the moon, where it could be built out of good ol steel.

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Yeah, that's been the issue since I was in college too, lol.

Materials science is doing crazy stuff all the time, though. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility.

 

[Cow Mengde]

I knew it! Those Damn scientists are building Jewish Space lasers.

 

[Thorn]

Dyson Sphere Project is becoming a reality.

 

[BAW]

Ion Cannon ready

 

[Zarshack]

Fuck, this is going to give those Jewish space laser people something to point to.

 

[Boclfon479]

Isn't this the plot of Metal Tornado?

 

[formasymphonic]

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Literally the first thing that came to mind. We still need orbital elevator tech to make it feasible but the power delivery aspect is a good step forward.

 

[B.K.]

Let's construct an artificial moon to absorb solar power to send down to some kind of crystal tower for storage.

 

[foxuzamaki]

uh isnt this like a level 4 civilization thing, don't think we're there yet

 

[panzone]

uh isnt this like a level 4 civilization thing, don't think we're there yet

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It's a bit different. Level 2 is when a civilization is able to use and control the entire energy output of a star, which I doubt is the case.

 

[DekuBleep]

That link in the OP doesn't work for me.

 

[orava]

 

[donkey]

Gundam 00, space elevator conflicts here we come!

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One step closer to becoming Gundam.

 

[sir_crocodile]

 

[Aztechnology]

Can you show me how the energy is transferred. Draw a diagram please, using green waves to show the transfer.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Probably a dumb question but what happens to birds who find themselves in the beam's way? What about airplanes?

 

[16bits]

Well you can't beam it around easily on Earth and in space you can catch solar energy 24/7.

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you could beam the space array energy to the other side of the earth when USA is in the dark

 

[Eoin]

I'm curious how this works, in a way that isn't basically a weapon.

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All energy production is arguably "basically a weapon" (sometimes - but not always - requiring a little bit of lateral thinking to make it so).

So in the future we have huge solar panel farms the size of cities floating around in orbit beaming down energy?

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No need to stop at orbit, or city-scale.

Isn't cheaper to just build the solar array on earth? There must be transmission loss by beaming it to earth that outweigh the reduced solar radiation on earth. This is ignoring the huge cost needed to make it work on large scale.

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It's cheaper to build stuff on Earth, when your starting point is Earth and you're only working within the close proximity of Earth. However if at any point it becomes easy to build stuff in orbit (or just generally off-world) then this type of system will have a lot of advantages and can be scaled up much further than on-world solar.