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So it looks like they can get the power back to earth with microwaves. How efficient is this? Do they lose significant energy in the atmosphere?
This is really cool though. I'm very jealous about what they have to look forward to over in China, I would love to be a part of a project like this
there are a few studies on this https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19760009531
I'm still confused if the efficiency is 95%, 75%, or 54%, but even if it's the lowest one it's still pretty good, higher than I expected.
Overall efficiency of 54% because they improved output efficiency to 95% and receiver efficiency to 75%.
Thanks! That's much more clear
It looks like the overall efficiency is 54%, which is probably the aggregate efficiency of the various different efficiencies listed of the sub components. Like you say though, that’s better than I would have guessed as a non-expert, and given that being in orbit massively increases the efficiency of the solar panels, it’s probably a decent scheme.
I’m still curious about the microwave beam though, does it just fry anything that happens to accidentally pass through it? Can you re-aim it at a new receiver plant in a completely different location based on regional power need, etc?
Presumably you'd separate it into smaller beams that only focus at the receiver, kinda like how holding up a magnifying glass to the sun doesn't fry everything between the magnifying glass and the target, just the target itself.
Oh yeah that’s a good point, hadn’t thought of it like that. You could have distributed beam origins pointing towards one large receiver. Or multiple arrays but have them aimed at one receiver, etc.
Thanks!
Yeah, if it really collects "more energy in a year than 'all the oil on Earth'" you probably don't want to be on the path of the microwaves.
It works trust me, I built one in simcity 2000
just string an extension cord down from orbit
Poor fucking birds, no?
fossil fuels are worse
Ahh right
Yeah I don't really get how this doesn't just cook stuff in the atmosphere on the way down?
Well hey, maybe China can use it to cook a giant bean burrito and cure world hunger
Microwaves are a band of the EM spectrum, and only a few very specific frequencies affect biological life directly. You wouldn’t want to use these frequencies at all, because they effect water molecules and thus would be heavily attenuated by the atmosphere.
Well according to wikipedia the safety of this is iffy. It's not impossible to make it safe but it's definitely not without risks to human and animal life either.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space-based_solar_power#Safety
"china is genociding the very stars themselves!"
China ended planet destroying fossil fuels, but at what cost?
This is the seed that blossoms into a Dyson Sphrear, isn't it?
I hope they build the first one in the shape of 
Orbiting solar power plants definitely seems like a step towards space elevators and related capabilities. They are testing some maglev space launchers too. Eventually solar array can be beaming power down to launch site to power up mag launchers. Hell yeah!
From what I can tell this is a proposal from a group of scientists that was expounded on in a lecture by one of the lead engineers in the Long March program, as an example of what the LM-9 will be able to do.
What about all the oil rig workers this'll leave unemployed?? There aren't enough jobs to ~~exploit~~ employ people of you get rid of an outdated energy source!!
If movie mindset taught me anything it’s that it’s easier to teach hard working blue collar oilmen to be astronauts than it is to teach astronauts to be blue collar folks, so they’ll be fine.
Cool idea but the US would blow it up faster than you can say "Nordstream 2."
I wonder if it's economically viable at this point? I know that solar panels produce much more energy in space and are probably more reliable but is it going to be enough to cover the cost of maintenance? Getting stuff to space is still very expensive
I'm guessing they've done at least basic cost/benefit analysis here. :)
sure, but what I'm asking is, is it an actual power plant or a research project?
So far it just looks like a proposal, but a lot of prior research has been done on the subject already. NASA has a number of studies discussing efficiency, costs, etc. I imagine they'll do a trial experiment first, and then depending on how that goes they'll decide whether to scale it up or not.
Having a power plant that literally solves the energy problem is worth pretty much anything. Especially for a country like China, which has to import huge amounts of oil through geopolitically risky routes.
no more half measures walter
I'd love to see what amount of that energy they expect to get back to earth as for what I understand is the the efficiencies for sending energy back like this is atrocious.
Even if it's an absurdly low % of energy collected, guess what, it's constant and practically infinite on a human timescale
But at what cost??
But at what cost?
I am going to ignore conflation of "scientists say" with "government will" and instead ask how they got that number when the array is quite modest in size.
China sun
Excuse me but the ENTIRE SUPPLY OF OIL ? Like... All of it? All unextracted oil that currently exists? Per year?
That is an absolutely fucking bonkers amount of energy.
