Ancestors

Written by Pooka🍸Boo 👁🫣🫵 on 2025-01-15 at 20:49

Does anybody else see a problem here? But I know the republicon solution. Teach the 10 commandments in school! 😂🤣

https://www.livescience.com/space/space-exploration/china-plans-to-build-enormous-solar-array-in-space-and-it-could-collect-more-energy-in-a-year-than-all-the-oil-on-earth

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Written by CaliCarol on 2025-01-15 at 20:56

@lednaBM

I hope they pull it off.

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Written by Pooka🍸Boo 👁🫣🫵 on 2025-01-15 at 21:10

@jawarajabbi Ummmm.... yeah, no thanks. The damage to the environment is incalculable at this point. I did know an old navy guy who told me once about the guys who had to clean dead birds out of the radar dishes on the aircraft carriers...🤣😂🤣😂🤣🥳

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Written by CaliCarol on 2025-01-15 at 21:53

@lednaBM

Maybe I misunderstood. Isn't this a major move away from fossil fuels?

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Written by Jestbill on 2025-01-15 at 22:10

@jawarajabbi @lednaBM Yes and no.

There were studies in the 70's about doing this. The answer ( as I remember ) was yes, it would work OK but the expense and complications make it too expensive for what it's worth.

Dead birds are not a problem with it unless they want dead birds.

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Written by FandaSin on 2025-01-16 at 12:41

@Jestbill

China aiming high energy laser or microwave beam (I don't see any other way of moving that energy from orbit to earth) to some "small" spot somewhere in chinas desert.

"The beam moved few (thousands) kilometers, we are really sorry for all that fires it created."

@jawarajabbi @lednaBM

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Written by Pooka🍸Boo 👁🫣🫵 on 2025-01-16 at 12:51

@FandaSin @Jestbill @jawarajabbi As an electrical engineer, I can tell you such a thing is possible; however, it's like nuclear power for generating electricity. Can you do it? Yes. Do you want to do it? No.

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Written by Sprung on 2025-01-16 at 13:37

@lednaBM @FandaSin @Jestbill @jawarajabbi it's like creating a pro lem to solve because the solution is 'cool'.

Why not solar arrays in the Gobi? Wires. Why even?

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Written by Pooka🍸Boo 👁🫣🫵 on 2025-01-16 at 14:06

@rightsprung @FandaSin @Jestbill @jawarajabbi

Anything we do has environmental consequences. That has to be recognized in any solutions.

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Written by Sprung on 2025-01-16 at 14:24

@lednaBM @FandaSin @Jestbill @jawarajabbi yes exactly

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Written by Woozle Hypertwin on 2025-01-16 at 15:13

@rightsprung @lednaBM @FandaSin @Jestbill @jawarajabbi@mastodon.online

Just to provide some important context, solar arrays in space are something that has been talked about since the 1970s. It is a good solution to a number of problems -- including one which was never mentioned (that I saw) until recently, which is the need for some way to keep dust off the panels (often using significant quantities of water).

The microwaves by which the power is beamed back to earth are, in theory, confined almost entirely to the area of the receiver. ("In theory" sounds like a weasel-phrase here -- but keep in mind that the more microwaves that go outside the receiver, the more energy is being wasted and therefore isn't sellable. Capitalists have been known to care about that, even if for the wrong reasons, and even the Chinese government is going to want to have the best return on resource investment.)

I remember discussions of the environmental impact which suggested that any birds who happened to fly through the beam would get a little warm, but not substantially harmed. If the heat was unpleasant, they would presumably learn to avoid the area.

If the Chinese plan has some numbers attached to it -- megawattage and receiver area -- then it would be easy enough to figure out if this is a reasonable prediction.

So, that's a thing to look into. Despite all the power, the density should not be high enough to be a serious danger even if safety-systems don't cut in should the beam drift off-target.

...and safety-feedback loops were part of any design I ever saw: the beam cuts off cold if ground sensors don't continually report that everything is ok, which can be checked several ways (including "are we still getting at least x% of expected power" as well as sensors right outside the receiver).

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Written by FandaSin on 2025-01-16 at 15:27

@woozle

What they can do with energy, in case it is not transfered to earth?

I mean it like - producing MW (or even GW) of energy and something moves the beam, it have to stop transfering that energy to earth (even for few seconds) and the energy have to go somewhere.

Sorry, I am curious.🤦😆

https://www.anker.com/eu-en/blogs/balcony-power-plant-with-storage/what-happens-if-pv-modules-are-not-connected

@rightsprung @lednaBM @Jestbill

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Written by Woozle Hypertwin on 2025-01-16 at 15:32

@FandaSin @rightsprung @lednaBM @Jestbill

My understanding is that it doesn't have to go anywhere; it can just stop generating. If you put a solar panel in the sunlight but don't hook it up to anything, it's kind of like having a battery that isn't connected to anything. Nothing happens.

(That said, one thing I've often wondered: do solar panels get cooler when their power is being used? If that's true, then there might be heating problems if the power isn't being beamed out somewhere -- but heat-management is more or less part of the design of anything humans put into space, if I understand right.)

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