Posted on 01/26/2010 10:21:05 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
EADS Astrium engineers are working on an orbital solar power concept that they think will be competitive with other technologies but safer to use.
Solar power would be collected in space and beamed to Earth using high-power infrared lasers so the energy could be used in remote regions, areas hit by natural disasters and other places where terrestrial power is not readily available. Astrium Chief Technical Officer Robert Laine says the concept offers certain advantages compared to competing technologies such as microwaves—notably a much smaller health risk.
The idea of using IR lasers for energy transmission has been around for a while, he notes, but is only now becoming feasible thanks to the availability of high-power lasers capable of transmitting at a variety of frequencies with sufficiently high (80% or more) energy efficiencies. Lasers operating in the 1.5-micron range are seen as particularly promising.
Researchers in the U.S., Russia and Japan also are pursuing space-based solar power projects, but most employ microwave technology (AW&ST Apr. 20, 2009, p. 39). Astrium engineers think an operational network using 20-50-kw. lasers could be ready as soon as 2020.
Laine says internally funded demonstrations using 5-watt lasers a few hundred meters apart have shown the feasibility of the concept. The company is now seeking to scale up ground testing with higher-power laser assemblies. In parallel, it is trying to interest public agencies and corporations in doing an in-orbit demonstration, perhaps on the International Space Station. Company engineers estimate they could have a 10-20-kw. demonstrator in orbit within five years.
(Excerpt) Read more at aviationnow.com ...
Well hell...lets point a bunch of infra red lasers at he earth and see if it warms up...LOL
nice.. clean... energy.
what could possibly go wrong with a russian/chinese space based laser platform?
Nice heat lamp.......
No point in even asking. It well could be.
space ping
I’ll bet that would have a really high efficiency rating.
Why not just crank up a diesel-powered generator?
These morons have to construct such wild scenarios as this to justify their solar-powered dreams. We have a hundred million years of solar power stored under the earth. It's called coal, oil, gas, and oil sands. And we have enough thorium for another thousand years of nuclear power. No need for overpriced solar power satellites.
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