China plant den Bau einer riesigen Solaranlage mit einer Breite von einem Kilometer im Weltraum. Die in einem Jahr gesammelte Energie würde der gesamten Ölmenge entsprechen, die auf der Erde gefördert werden kann
https://amp.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3294091/china-plans-build-three-gorges-dam-space-harness-solar-power
16 Kommentare
I’m sure we could do it in the US, but oil companies would make less profit, and that would be unacceptable
Welcome to the 1970s. NASA has looked at these things for better than half a century. All things considered, the cons outweigh the pros. Would make a fantastic weapon though.
1361W/m^2 × (1000m)^2 = 1.36GW.
I’m pretty sure there are windmill farms that produce more energy than this array would be hit by, and solar panels are about 20% efficient.
Edit to add: also at least 9 powerplants *each* making more power than that using various types of oil. Some of which have been for decades. Which is about how long solar panels tend to last in orbit.
How do they plan on getting the energy down from space?
Not sure if this could actually work, or the practicality or cost effectiveness of it… but it’s interesting to see things like this being explored. Who knows? Maybe this results in a truly viable option for humanity’s growing energy needs. If nothing else, maybe it spurns more creative solutions across the globe.
What would be the technology to transmit all the power that is created to earth?
Not practical for commercial power due to all the various transmission & conversion losses. If a weapon, its practicality also questionable. Too vulnerable I’d think, just sitting out in space.
That thing and its huge radiator array will be swiss cheese within a year.
I would turn that energy into computing, a 10 GW server in space. You could save a fortune on cooling.
Many here asking the logic behind this is to collect data and not as a profit mechanism, the data will be studied and understood as how it can be useful in other avenues.
And here, in the land of stupidit, we have idiots refusing to do anything without a paycheck first.
1km² at best give you a fraction of a gigawatt
Not this nonsense again. This had already been posted, rubbished and removed.
This is complete nonsense. A 1 km square array would make about 300 mW. About as much as a very small nuclear reactor. And that doesn’t include any transmission solution and the losses incured there.
The math is off by about 3-4 orders of magnitude.
I just imagine a really long extension cable going from the ground to the sky flapping in the wind.
The US military is also testing out wireless power transfers using microwaves. So this is not as far fetched as some would think.
[https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/Article/3005894/nrl-conducts-successful-terrestrial-microwave-power-beaming-demonstration/](https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/Article/3005894/nrl-conducts-successful-terrestrial-microwave-power-beaming-demonstration/)