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A comment on Space Solar Power Demonstrator ends first in-space mission. Parent comment

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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