Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

NinjaLanternShark t1_j07w4z0 wrote

Reply to comment by evilmopeylion in Northrop Grumman’s wireless power distribution from space - The 'Space Solar Power Incremental Demonstrations and Research' (SSPIDR) Project team is developing means to transmit concentrated solar energy from space to anywhere on Earth by Aerothermal

Eh. If this works it will be a very expensive and probably dangerous way to transmit power. Only really applicable if you're the military and operating in a specific place at a specific time is far more important than cost.

14

Aerothermal OP t1_j080ksj wrote

You might not have read the submission comment. It includes non-military applications in space exploration, e.g. NASA exploring this for wireless power distribution on the Moon. We are going back to the moon after all. And my comment underneath links to ESA solaris, which is about energy distribution for everyone.

I didn't elaborate on the numerous satellite applications. It turns out, that energy generation and storage is very heavy and expensive on satellites, and solar only works effectively on the day side of planets. With wireless power distribution, you could have neighboring satellites beaming power to lighter weight small satellites and extending their mission life. Or you could have satellites charging even whilst in the shadow of a planetary body. Perhaps we could have radio telescopes set up on the dark side of the moon in craters, isolated from Earth's radio interference, and get extra power down to them from orbit.

5

NinjaLanternShark t1_j0842x9 wrote

My point is, this isn't tech that will bring cheap power to the masses. It'll be an incredibly expensive way to get power to where it's currently impossible. Which isn't to say it's bad, it's just not going to "worldize power."

12

sceadwian t1_j09vjw6 wrote

You still have to build a receiving station. Why not build a generator? I fail to see the use case here especially considering even if they develop the technology it will still be pretty inefficient and if it can deliver truly useful power it will be trivial to turn it into a weapon.

There are intrinsic problems with the idea.

1

Words_Are_Hrad t1_j0blvm8 wrote

Because with a generator you have to constantly bring more fuel. With this you can have supply line free electricity with just a relatively small receiver.

1

sceadwian t1_j0botat wrote

Any real amount of power delivered by this will need more than a small receiver. Just being in a sidelobe or getting hit by a reflection would cook you so there will have to be a fairly large no go zone around it. Even the best directed arrays in space have serious divergence.

1