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Japan Plans $21B Space Power Plant

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the but-can-it-pop-popcorn dept.

Mike writes "Japan has announced plans to send a $21 billion solar power generator into space that will be capable of producing one gigawatt of energy, or enough to power 294,000 homes. The project recently received support from Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and IHI Corp, who are now teaming up in the race to develop new technology within four years that can beam electricity back to Earth without the use of cables. Japan hopes to test a small solar satellite decked out with solar panels by the year 2015."

4 of 550 comments (clear)

  1. Cue Standard Replies by hardburn · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you are about to post anything about any of the issues below, please at least read the Wiki page on SBSP first. Doing so will save a lot of electrons.

    • How do you beam the power
    • Give people cancer (or other safety issues)
    • Weaponization
    • Beam energy will be lost in transit, absorbed into the atmosphere, and contribute to global warming

    A basic understanding of the technology and physics will debunk all of these, and WikiPedia gives a good overview of these non-criticisms. Anyone continuing to parrot them below will be flogged.

    --
    Not a typewriter
    1. Re:Cue Standard Replies by onkelonkel · · Score: 5, Informative

      What is there left to post? Any science or tech article outside of the IT world is guaranteed to produce an avalanche of specious, ill informed or just plain stupid comments. The best always point out some glaringly obvious non-flaw in the plan "Hurh, hurh, those scientists are so dumb. How are they going to beam solar power on a cloudy day? Bet they never thought of that. They're not so smart..."

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      None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
    2. Re:Cue Standard Replies by hardburn · · Score: 5, Informative

      No, it really isn't, not at the frequencies useful for SBSP. These frequencies must be specifically choosen to cut through all the water in the atmosphere (along with anything else). Since human bodies are mostly water, you're not going to absorb very much of the stuff, and what stuff you do absorb will be no different from being on the beach on a sunny day.

      If the military wants to weaponize the basic technology, they're going to have to design with it specifically in mind (even if it's possible to use microwaves for this purpose, which it probably isn't). They won't get a useful weapon using the civilian power system. The civilian system might help increase launch capacity and thus make the weapon system cheaper to build, but again, that's no different from any other space activity of this magnitude.

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      Not a typewriter
  2. Japan has the resources and the government... by mollog · · Score: 5, Informative

    "I honestly don't know what the heck is going on in the US!"

    If you just woke up from a coma, America went through 8 years of voodoo economics, record deficit spending by a runaway congress, a jobless recovery, and an economy propped up with record low interest rates that lead to a housing bubble. Combine that with a failure to monitor the largest financial institutions because of an ideological aversion to regulation, and you have a perfect financial storm.

    Meanwhile, Americas's financial frenemies are exploiting an arbitrage on labor and environmental costs, along with currency manipulation and protectionism, to supercharge their economies.

    Now that you're up to date, we have a new American President who is not beholden to special interests, especially energy interests, who has some vision for a clean energy future. Japan has just announced a bold new project to generate photovoltaic energy and some Americans are very curious.

    All of that was sardonic. What do you not understand?

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    Best regards.