NASA Abandons SimCIty Microwave Power Concept

TexasDex writes "Wired reports: The NASA Space Solar Power project--a method of collecting solar energy efficiently from space and beaming it down to earth--was canceled in early 2001 after enjoying intermittent attention from scientists. NASA officials cited a policy shift toward the International Space Station and the space shuttle program. But there is still hope for it yet. A conference this month in spain hopes to advance the cause, dispite the fact that there is no public funding available in the US for this project. Some even claim that microwave power is essential for farther explanation. Accordong to the folks at Maxis, Microwave power should be available around 2020, depending on which version of SimCity you play."

Comments

Excellent...

[Paulrothrock]

Now maybe a private company can develop it for 2% of the cost and we'll have cheap, environmentally benign power.

Re:Excellent...

[GileadGreene]

but when it comes to utilities, if it ain't regulated, the profit margins with be astronomical

Only in a non-competitive market - which is usually caused by government regulations preventing other companies from offering solutions.

Outstanding idea. . . and will never happen. . .

[Salgak1]

. . .because our "Zero-risk" society, and the Safety/Environmental "Nazi"s will go absolutely ape over the idea . . . add to that the general scientific illteracy of the general public and. . . .

"Death beams from space, that can microwave a city if terrorists got control of it". . .

Microwave beam misalignment

[zhenlin]

What would happen, if the microwave beam moved slightly out of alignment? From such a high altitude, even a fraction of a degree could move the endpoint of the beam a few tens of metres...

Even if the reciever could detect this, it would be a few seconds before the satellite could recieve the command and turn off the beam...

And what if, something flies into the path of the beam, whether or not it is misaligned? Birds, planes, lower orbit satellites...

The question is not just what would happen, but also how to prevent it.

-- someone who hopes for safe, clean, efficient power, be it microwave or fission or fusion

Insightful?

[xtermin8]

How can tech savy nerds be so stubbornly simplistic when it comes to economics? The internet certainly wasn't a private venture for many years (not profitable). The technology behind all computers was developed and heavily subsidized by the government. There is next to know chance that any private company is going to develop this technology. Even if it were possible I think the powers that control expensive, polluting power would ever let it happen.

X-Prize

[vijaya_chandra]

Considering the response being received for the X-Prize, it wouldn't be a bad idea for some wealthy guy to sponsor some Y-Prize for an extremely efficient, eco-friendly setup for generating power.
Am damn sure the current hydel, thermal, fission, solar, wind sources can be made use of in other better ways than the current ones

Re:Outstanding idea. . . and will never happen. .

[moonbender]

It's called controversial discussion. I prefer people who go ape about everything to people who don't go ape about anything. All of the things you mentioned do have their drawbacks, and those drawbacks need to be pointed out, discussed and weighed against each other. They are in fact practising their democratic right and duty to actively support what they think is right - something that many people on Slashdot seem to think is below them. Cheering and bitching is the essence of a democratic society.