[rightwingcrazy]

Half the planet is bathed in solar radiation. Why do we need a satellite to collect it?

[chrisser]

"Half the planet is bathed in solar radiation. Why do we need a satellite to collect it? "

I'm certainly not an expert, but I would assume that much of the incoming solar energy is either absorbed or reflected by the atmosphere, not to mention the consideration of cloudcover.

Put high enough and in the correct orbit, a satellite would be bathed in sunlight constantly, rather than being affected by the day/night cycle.

Not sure which of the above is more signficant, and it will be very interesting to see how the transmission of energy is accomplished, as well as the possibilities of this device being used intentionally or otherwise as a weapon.

[Brett66]

It’s unlikely space based solar power would ever be competitive with ground-based coal, nuclear or even ground-based solar power.

It would have use in niche applications such as space-to-space power transmission and possibly some military applications.

The application to weapons would be there as well, not sure if that would be a driving force for it’s development though since a compact nuclear power source would be better suited for such an application.

[Brian S. Fitzgerald]

satellites can concentrate the sun’s light in space efficiently where there is no atmosphere and then beam it to the surface of the Earth almost 24 hours a day.