A similar energy project had been proposed by NASA more than two decades ago but was never developed, while the UK government commissioned independent research supporting a £16bn British version in orbit by 2035.
The first launch for China's project is scheduled for 2028, when a trial satellite orbiting at a distance of around 400km (248 miles) will test the technology used to transmit energy from the power plant.
This satellite will "convert solar energy to microwaves or lasers and then direct the energy beams to various targets, including fixed locations on Earth and moving satellites" according to the South China Morning Post.
China is making steps to turn earth in to a type-two civilization on the Kardashev scale, and it's barely news.
Kardashev scale
Get that commie propaganda out of here.
It's a level 6 civilization on the Age of Empires scale, and a Tier 8 civilization on the Civ 6 research tree!
smh my head with these millenial boomers
President Xi if you do, I promise to put it on Worldstar
wonder what the emissions to energy ratio is for a launch like this, how long it takes to "break even" relative to coal, oil, etc
China: what's the net benifet for sustainable development from our literal solar panel space station that beams a laser of energy back to earth after factoring in launch emissions?
USA: literally putting out the same emissions regularly for billionaires to have joy rides in space and play with their toys.
Also no way Britian does this lol too much of a failed state. Also the santions against Russia are gonna put the west back in this qausi space race for atleast a couple of years as we basically rely on Russia for rocket engines .
One can only hope they use their giant mazer to make havanah syndrome real
Making mechanical marvels beyond what your grandfather could even imagine to give people tummy aches
does this roast all the birds that fly between the receiver dish and the station? :bird-screm1:
If it's built right they'd just be gently warmed, but probably wouldn't wanna linger.
If it changed the air current enough, I don't think sparrows or other birds would fly through it
It's like the plot of Gundam 00, except the impoverished hellscape country that rejects the new energy infrastructure and leans on fossil fuels instead as it collapses into civil war with child conscripts will smell a little bit more like mayo. :amerikkka-clap:
They could also do this on the moon, right? 'Just' dump a giant heap of solar panels on there. Beam it to earth. God, I love having any hope for the future. Thanks China.
Ideally you want the microwave laser close to earth to lower the amount of scattering and it needs to be steady over the receiver.
For a full size solar power satellite at geosynchronous orbit, you'll need your receiving antenna to be a couple km across (to catch all the photons not in the center of the beam). Luckily, because microwaves are large, you can use netting as an antenna and grow shade tolerant plants underneath it.
The moon's also a bad place to put them because if you put them in one spot they'll only be lit by the sun for half the month. Better to stick them in an orbit that always gets sunlight.
Good. Maybe this will get those assholes in Washington to fund NASA instead of billionaire nazis in Ukraine
"We found the most racist neo-nazi in Ukraine and launched him into the sun. What happened next will amaze you!"
what if china got the US to pump all its money into orbital defense and it leads to their collapse like a reverse Star Wars :sicko-hyper:
The CPC has just been an elaborate ruse to carve Chairface Chippendale's name into the moon
I'm unconvinced the gains are worth the expense + transmission losses versus rooftop panels.
If it's done with microwaves wouldn't there be a non-negligible heating of water in the air?
That depends on the intensity (power/area) of the beam, and the exact frequency used.
Some calculations for fun:
Peak sunlight at ground level is 1120W/m^2 The test station is targeting a power output of 10,000kW. If the beam intensity is limited to that of sunlight then at it's most intense the beam would have a ~3.4m diameter.
By the same metric, the eventual 2GW beam would have to be 1.5km across!
Microwave antennae have to be large but for this to be viable they'll probably have to make it more intense than sunlight. Sure microwaves don't give you skin cancer but they can penetrate and directly cook your tissues. They can cook your eyes like eggs!
DO NOT ENTER THE ENERGY BEAM :sicko-charging:
