[ExI] pentagon wants orbiting solar power stations

[Eugen Leitl]

On Sun, Oct 14, 2007 at 06:55:46PM -0400, Brent Neal wrote:

> I'd guess they'd try to piggyback slots - i.e. replace communication  
> satellites with power satellites with communications relays on them.  
> Not like powering the relays would be a problem. :)

There are advantages in dynamic LEO satellite configurations.
You have to maintain a critical density (depends on orbit height)
in order to achieve a smooth handover for Earth-side rectenna
arrays. 

There are multiple technologies which allow you to dramatically
reduce launch costs (high accelerations/small packages, so unsuitable
for large payloads and people), and which get you to LEO.

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