[ExI] Power sats as weapons

[Keith Henson]

>From a LinkedIn discussion

The choices are not as clear cut as we might wish for.

The really big problem is low cost energy. The world's population is
way over extended given the finite nature of fossil fuels. If we don't
solve the energy problem, then as we run out of cheap energy, famines
and resource wars will reduce the population to one or two billion
people, probably living on a somewhat radioactive planet.

I am willing to support and work on any project that looks like it can
get the cost of power down and have,
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/8323

The problem with power sats as a solution to low cost energy is that
they require cheap transport to GEO of vast amounts of material. A
starter project, not really large enough to solve the energy problem,
takes 500,000 tons per year to turn out 100 GW per year.

The need is 10 to 20 times that large, 5 to 10 million tons per year
lifted to GEO. And for the power to get into the range it could
replace fossil fuels, the cost to lift the parts has to get down to
under $100/kg to GEO.

I don't believe that is possible without laser propulsion above 2 k/s
and a HTHL 100% reusable vehicle like Skylon. If you can make a case
that I am wrong on this point I would be delighted.

The choice may be between the possibility of space wars and the sure
thing of 5/7th of the race dying in ground wars.

It's worth considering why we have wars at all. Humans differ from
chimps in that war is situational, stemming from a resource crisis.
People anticipate a bleak future, evolved-stone-age psychological
mechanisms turn up the gain for circulating xenophobic memes and
eventually a war or related social disruption occurs.

A huge, low cost energy source could deal with virtually all resource
problems, including water. It would be fairly easy to keep the income
per capita rising for a very long time, especially if rising income
slowed the birth rate.

I don't think we need to watch power sats closely for one being turned
into a laser weapon. The changes are really obvious. (Heat sinks for
the lasers are not small.)

As far as preventing laser propulsion, I don't see how it could be
done. If the Chinese announced they were going to responsibly solve
the world energy crisis by building laser propulsion and lots of power
satellites, what could the US do? Nuke them? The rest of the world
would turn on the US if the government did, and what else could the US
do to stop them?