[ExI] Power satellites microwave power transmission

[Eugen Leitl]

On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 12:32:36AM -0700, The Avantguardian wrote:

> Hey Keith. I am sure you are aware that I am proponent of SBSP but one thing 
> that troubles me is that I have yet to see a good plan to get rid of the waste 
> heat generated by gigawatt power generation in the vacuum of space. Do you have 

At ~AU there's about 1.3 kW/m^2 energy flux upon a flat surface.
The other side is radiatively coupled (via thermal ~blackbody
emission) to the cosmic microwave background. So in practice
you'd get about 300-400 K operation temperature.

If there are hotspots (e.g. power electronics) you can
use heat spreaders and/or liquid metal in the radiators.

> any suggestions on how to cool an SPS so that the resistance of the power 
> conduits does not choke off the power supply? Anybody?

An ideal setup for an SPS is to make solar cells double as phased
array on on the other side, so they can use realtime beamforming to track
ground-side rectenna or rectennas array(s) (the beam can be retargeted within
few ~ms). 
 
> Stuart LaForge 
> 
> 
> "There is nothing wrong with America that faith, love of freedom, intelligence, 
> and energy of her citizens cannot cure."- Dwight D. Eisenhower 

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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