[ExI] StratoSolar

[Adrian Tymes]

Their blog hasn't been updated since 2023, their social media longer.  In
those situations with no recent news, it is often the case that those
involved have had to focus on other responsibilities, most often other work
to pay the bills, leaving the project effectively abandoned.  Luck (those
other circumstances getting resolved), or a substantial infusion of
capital, can bring it back.

One's best hope to resurrect it is to contact the owner and try setting up
a trial oneself, acknowledging that the owner won't have much time to help
right now.  Alas, this usually takes a lot more time, energy, and
specialized knowledge than one has available.

On Thu, Jan 9, 2025, 3:22 PM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> StratoSolar (Stratospheric (20km) tethered photovoltaic aerostats with
> built-in kinetic energy storage)
>
> http://www.stratosolar.com/
>
> This is something that I would have expected some people on this list to
> know about, and have an opinion on, but I don't see any posts about it for
> at least the last three years.
>
> Not sure if the project has stalled for some reason, but does anyone know
> anything about it? It seems an excellent idea to me, but there's no recent
> blog activity or news on their site. Last blog entry was 2023/12/16. No
> hint of even a trial, which surprises me.
>
> It seems to be a lot cheaper and more efficient than space-based solar
> power, would work well at any latitude and all day long, being above the
> clouds, and is easily scaleable. The biggest challenge, I think, would be
> the tethers, but 20km of vertical cable is not a problem for current
> technology. The kinetic storage is a brilliant idea, I thought, and neatly
> solves one of the biggest problems that all solar power systems have.
>
> Please have a look at the site, and let us know what your thoughts are. Is
> there some fundamental problem that they missed? I can't think of any,
> except possibly failing to get financial backing, or political opposition.
>
> Obviously this idea won't wash in the US, at least for the next four
> years, but why hasn't it already gained some traction?
>
> --
> Ben
>
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>
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