Originally posted by: imgod2u
Even if we just put a satellite in orbit (outside the Earth's atmosphere) to collect that energy, there'd still be the little problem of getting that power to Earth. That, I think, is the main problem. There are plenty of sources of energy outside the Earth, but how do we get it here? I can't imagine there are extension cords that long.
The other problem is, what if the beam becomes misaligned, maybe from a freak asteroid impact on the satellite, or a misfired thruster. That's a lot of microwave radiation (or whatever the beam would be) blasting something other than a collector.
Originally posted by: imgod2u
I wouldn't say so. In orbit there's probably very little debris. A few particles per cubic meter. As for beaming down the energy being interfered with, just choose a wavelength of photons that don't interact as much with the air.
Yes, there's debris up there, quite a bit of it actually - and it can be expensive. A lot of it is very tiny, but still dangerous. A tiny piece of paint can put a microscopic crater in a shuttle's windows, which costs a lot to replace, like $50,000 according to a book I read. It's stuff like that too - paint flecks, pieces of old or failed satellites, dust.
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Image a planet full of windmills. Take an electric rocket ship with a giant battery to that planet and just make sure the trip there and the trip back uses less energy than is taken from the other planets windmill battery ... or what about the same thing but solar panels
An electric rocket? Maybe some kind of automated thing, with the ability to be slingshotted out of Earth's gravity - I just don't see how you can launch a rocket with electricity alone. Maybe some kind of electrical induction engine, or something that could use a powerful (like, unbelievably inefficient) magnetic drive to pull air in...that would require simply incredible amounts of power. Plus, there would need to be a really good way of storing the electrons. Current methods involve chemical reactions - there's no way of just sticking electrons into a container and carrying them around like that. You could probably use some kind of magnetic containment field, but that would also need a lot of energy just to maintain containment.
A beam of energy from one planet to another would just be next to impossible to keep aligned - two different orbits to deal with, varying rotations...
What we need to do is develop more efficient solar conversion technologies; current methods are quite inefficient. And then there's the problem again of how to store a LOT of electricity for things like night, or heavy snowstorms that would prevent light from getting to the panels (assuming they're on the ground, satellites would require still further research) for extended periods.