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Pentagon Urges Space-Based Solar Power
eldavojohn writes "The Pentagon issued a report indicating that space-based solar power 'has the potential to help the United States stave off climate change and avoid future conflicts over oil by harnessing the Sun's power to provide an essentially inexhaustible supply of clean energy.' The report, from the Pentagon's National Security Space Office, calls for funding the development of space-based solar power culminating in 'a platform in geosynchronous orbit bigger than the international space station and capable of beaming 5-10 megawatts of power to a receiving station on the ground.' The Pentagon's interest in such an effort stems from the need to acquire energy on the battlefield, which today often comes at a painful premium."
Because I can't imagine any other military application behind beaming 5-10 megawatts of power to a focused location...
Ben Hocking
Need a professional organizer?
I'm going to laugh myself unconscious when the United States Military solves the problem of clean, renewable energy for the world. Take that, hippies! Muahahahahaaaaa!
Don't trust anyone under thirty.
That's right: it uses clean energy! Everyone wins!
If you're cynical enough to believe that the military is using this as an excuse to develop high-powered lasers, or potentially a space-based death ray, then why do you also say that it's a really "stupid" idea? By your thesis, it's a good but *evil* idea.
A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
because we haven't found any giant space sharks yet...
In practice, it'd be a piece of cake to implement a safeguard against that.
Tinfoil hat?
Need I say more?
I think they played too much command and conquer. Long live the ion canon!
'a platform in geosynchronous orbit bigger than the international space station and capable of beaming 5-10 megawatts of power to a receiving station on the ground.'
The report's author was heard saying "That's not a taser. THIS is a taser!"
The ACLU was not available for comment, due to an unexplained fire at their headquarters.
Man it sure is bright out today...
Ion Cannon ready
"hey, we need some more power to run our iPods."
"sure thing, realigning the transmitter."
"A little further to the north."
"Ok."
"AAAARRRR, it burns, it burns. Perfect."
09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
Was it a dream where you see yourself standing in sort of sun-god robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?
I like you, Stuart. You're not like everyone else, here, at Slashdot.
Do not look at transmitter with remaining eye.
man, I feel like mold.
I vote we build huge photovoltaic rings around our planet perpendicular to the sun, then we can collect energy AND look almost as cool as Saturn.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
1. The military has more political might than the farmers.
2. Coca-Cola only dumped sugar in your country, in most of the rest of the world it still tastes good.
What if they use it to make popcorn?
We have those in the U.S. too, but we call them 'cans.'
http://twitter.com/OLDTELEGRAM
But isn't all solar power space based?
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing. Emo Philips