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A comment on Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into Orbit. Parent comment

Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by LarryMullins on Thursday January 05, 2023 @02:08PM (#34264854)
> If we contemplate such an array around the Moon or on Mars, or in a world with in-space resource extraction and manufacturing, the economics shift.

The economics of anything on Mars or the Moon amounts to 'try to convince a government to throw tons of money at you.' A technology which only makes sense in that economic context is very limited.

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Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by JumpCrisscross on Thursday January 05, 2023 @02:09PM (#34264874)
> technology which only makes sense in that economic context is very limited

If this were a start-up I’d be roundly criticising it. It’s not. It’s a research project. And each of its sub-projects—testing new PVs in space, a novel deployment mechanism, power transmission—has clear value outside a space-based solar context.

As a focussing mechanism, SBSP is neat because each problem needing to be solved to make it economically viable is immediately valuable on the ground. (Save for power transmission. That’s still niche.)

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Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by LarryMullins on Thursday January 05, 2023 @02:19PM (#34265024)
> Save for power transmission

Isn't that the entire point? Putting solar panels in space has been done regularly the 1950s.

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Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by JumpCrisscross on Thursday January 05, 2023 @02:39PM (#34265345)
I meant that I don't see a near-term use terrestrial use case for better microwave power transmission.
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Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by LarryMullins on Thursday January 05, 2023 @02:46PM (#34265457)
Maybe you could use microwave power transmission (from the ground) to power atmospheric pseudo-satellites, but practical applications seem dubious.
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Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by ben_w on Thursday January 05, 2023 @03:06PM (#34265736)
Drones. Electric aircraft in general, recharging continuously in-flight.

Might be ill-advised for a whole mass of reasons that I, as a software engineer, know naught of; but it would be a use case.

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