...100 MW of Space Solar Power ...per single launch!
in [Physics]
|
Prev: Does inductive reasoning lead to knowledge?
Next: What is the correct term for this type of chart?
From: Pat Flannery on 17 Dec 2009 11:36 Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote: > In other words you've just proven terresterial solar power doesn't work > either. I'll go tell the folks I know using it that you've proven their > systems don't work. Now, this is weird: http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/03/24/solar-power-without-a-solar-panel/ Then there's the spray-on plastic quantum dots one: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0114_050114_solarplastic.html If you can get that technologies like that to work then space solar power only has the advantage of being 24/7...if the power satellites are up in GEO. Pat
From: Pat Flannery on 17 Dec 2009 11:38 jmfbahciv wrote: >> Name something that is impossible to make on Earth or would be cheaper >> to make in space for which there is an actual market. > > Vacuum? Oh, Vacuum...that's nothing. ;-) Pat
From: Alain Fournier on 17 Dec 2009 11:21 jimp(a)specsol.spam.sux.com wrote: > In sci.physics Peter Fairbrother <zenadsl6186(a)zen.co.uk> wrote: > >>Alain Fournier wrote: > >>However there would be other benefits to starting a space-based economy, >>for instance things can be made in space which are impossible or >>expensive to make on Earth > > Name something that is impossible to make on Earth or would be cheaper > to make in space for which there is an actual market. Well there is no market for something that doesn't exist, so there is currently no market for things that are impossible to make on Earth. But here are a few things that a space based industry could possibly do. - Alloys made of metals of very different densities. - Metal mousse (kind of a metal air alloy, or a metal vacuum alloy(??) ). - It is suspected that some crystals next to impossible to grow on Earth could be made in zero g. But I think that a space based industry would probably not be exporting hardware to Earth, at least not at first. Exports to Earth would probably at first be data and/or energy. So a space based industry could build - SPS - Giant space telescopes. - Fuel for interplanetary probes and interplanetary manned missions. - Interplanetary probes or parts of them. Would you like more? Alain Fournier
From: Alain Fournier on 17 Dec 2009 11:30 Fred J. McCall wrote: > jimp(a)specsol.spam.sux.com wrote: > :If the energy density is low enough to be safe, it isn't high enough to > :be particularly usefull. > : > > Wrong. Thank you Fred. Such a profound answer really helps. Jim: The advantage provided by a SPS over solar energy is not in the energy density. It is because you get your energy 24 hours a day and you get it in a much more convenient form. You can convert the energy you receive from a SPS much more easily because it is all at the same wave-length. That wave-length is one you chose for being convenient. The Sun insists on sending us its energy across a broad range of wave-lengths and only about half the time every day, not to mention that cloud cover can cut down on the solar energy you receive. Alain Fournier
From: Peter Fairbrother on 17 Dec 2009 11:45
jmfbahciv wrote: > jimp(a)specsol.spam.sux.com wrote: >> In sci.physics Peter Fairbrother <zenadsl6186(a)zen.co.uk> wrote: >>> Alain Fournier wrote: >> >>> However there would be other benefits to starting a space-based >>> economy, for instance things can be made in space which are >>> impossible or expensive to make on Earth >> >> >> Name something that is impossible to make on Earth or would be cheaper >> to make in space for which there is an actual market. > > Vacuum? > >> >> I hear this arm-waving claim from the space cadet crowd a lot, but no one >> seems to be able to identify a product. >> >> > > It sure would be nice to find one. Foamed metals, some biologicals, and quite a lot of chemistry can be done better and easier in micro-gee - there are a number of others. Vacuum is available on Earth at not too high a cost - but micro-gee just plain isn't. -- Peter Fairbrother |