[ExI] power satellites again

[Keith Henson]

On Fri, May 6, 2016 at 9:02 AM,  CryptAxe <cryptaxe at gmail.com> wrote:

> I didn't know that you could produce synthetic fuel or oil with solar
> panels that's very interesting. Zero carbon emissions might be a stretch
> but shoot for the stars I guess.

The technology dates back to 1925.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer%E2%80%93Tropsch_process

> Just using this to power production in industrial areas of China etc could
> really help with pollution that is directly effecting nearby populations
> and inevitably all of us.
>
> The timeline they give in the video makes it seem like this could happen
> somewhat quickly so I'm looking forward to progress. I wonder if spacex
> will help launch the satellites?

Probably not.  The problem is cost.  Musk and Co will probably get the
cost to GEO down from the current $20,000/kg to $2000/kg.  That's
still ten times to much for power satellites to make economic sense.
Skylon can probably get the cost down far enough and deal with the
volume (a million flights per year).  The capacity of the aircraft
industry would have to about double to make enough of them.

Keith

> On Apr 22, 2016 10:51 AM, "Keith Henson" <hkeithhenson at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrcoD_vHzxU&feature=youtu.be