Space Solar Power Demonstrator ends first in-space mission

Re:Space Solar Power Demonstrator ends first in-space mission by jacquesm on Tuesday January 16, 2024 @11:33PM (#39023355)

You'd need them to be in geosynchronous orbits unless you plan on powering the planet instead of the United States. And orbits that always face the sun are polar orbits, so you'd need a polar geosynchronous orbit. This would likely mean that the distance from the ground stations is way too large for meaningful power transfer. It would also require the whole installation to be somewhat movable. to correct its orbit as it slips over time because the installation is so large that different parts of it will be in slightly different orbits!

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Re:Space Solar Power Demonstrator ends first in-space mission by dabluecaboose on Wednesday January 17, 2024 @12:26AM (#39023625)

Quick quibbles:

1. Geostationary orbits are in 24/7 sunlight except for a short period each day near the equinoxes

2. Geostationary polar orbits do not exist. Geostationary orbits are, by definition, 0° inclined. A polar geosynchronous orbit, like you mentioned, would not offer much besides being over the same point on the Earth at the same instant every day.

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Re:Space Solar Power Demonstrator ends first in-space mission by jacquesm on Wednesday January 17, 2024 @12:37AM (#39023685)

> A polar geosynchronous orbit, like you mentioned, would not offer much besides being over the same point on the Earth at the same instant every day.

It would offer a lot: the ability to send down an absolutely massive amount of power without having the corridor shift around so that it can be reliably routed around by air traffic. Having the equivalent of a microwave scythe moving across a large area would be kind of counterproductive.

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Re:Space Solar Power Demonstrator ends first in-space mission by dabluecaboose on Wednesday January 17, 2024 @12:42AM (#39023721)

Which is why a geostationary orbit would be much more feasible. Constant solar exposure with a minimal ground-track footprint that can be reliably pointed at the same ground station 24/7.

In fact, if we're already beaming power (assuming this works reliably enough) it might make sense to have a set of birds "surfing the terminator" in a polar orbits that can then transmit to geostationary birds which in turn transmit to ground stations.

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Re:Space Solar Power Demonstrator ends first in-space mission by jacquesm on Wednesday January 17, 2024 @02:04AM (#39024242)

It makes for good science fiction. But the footprint of the spot on the receiving end would be such that most of the energy would be lost. Even at an opening angle of only 10 degrees (which would be pretty good) from LEO you'd be looking at a 50 km spot size.

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