this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2025
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sino
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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.
headlines are calling it the Death Star
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.
Haha no kidding
it can kill smaller creatures within a minute, though i imagine it would be quite painful and obvious that its happening so they would likely just move out of the way before too much harm happens. this is also resolved by having many specific safe areas for unloading the microwaves and also reducing the amount sent.
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
Skill issue. Don't stand on the big X they target the space Lazer at. It isn't like smog where it gets everywhere
True, it's almost certainly gonna cook some birds tho, but then again wind farms also smoke birds regularly.
That is literally oil company propaganda. Cause it could never kill as many birds as oil fumes though. You arent wrong, just the vibes are off.
yeah theres some laser and microwave tech theyve been working on to beam it down to earth star trek-like. prolonged exposure can fuck you up, theres also been talk about using it to charge electronics in war zones, safety be damned. research says that if a mouse were in the direct area itd die within a minute lmao
there are of course ways to counteract this. unironically, tin foil hats and suits. but also just reducing the amount of microwaves sent and increasing the number of landing points would also help