Space-based solar power is getting serious–can it solve Earth’s energy woes?

Re:Space-based solar power is getting serious–can it solve E... by ben_w on Sunday October 23, 2022 @04:21PM (#33309923)

This will absolutely work (and unlike beamed power, can provably avoid being used directly as a weapon by malicious actors); but, when you get to the scale "chonky enough you can attach a cable down to ground level", you might as well just build on the ground in the first place. A few square meters cross section is enough for a global HVDC grid using boring copper and/or aluminium, the losses aren't worth caring about given how cheap PV is even now.

Active support towers going up, that may work (if we solve the engineering issues, AFAIK nobody has tech demoed it yet), as those don't need to be supported by the cable, meaning the cable can be much smaller.

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Re:Space-based solar power is getting serious–can it solve E... by Schroedingersat on Tuesday October 25, 2022 @07:34PM (#33337664)

Building up is vastly more difficult than hanging something.

The best engineering on earth is still under a km in compression. To hang a steel cable 150km all you have to do is make it skinnier towards the bottom.

The engineering issues of the bit at the top might be a bit eye-watering. A 100% reliable maglev sled supporting 100s of tonnes coasting on a catenary supported by centripetal force sounds like a recipe for the world's largest whip.

Launch loops start to sound less scifi as a space megaproject (although then we're back tosuper weapons)

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