[off topic] You can make the world's largest microwave oven... [/off topic]
I noticed this little tid bit: 200 megawatts of clean, renewable power over a 15 year period.
How much does that compare to the energy needed for getting it up in space, getting routine maintenance & repair up in space, the maintenance & repair itself, and possible decommissioning?
IIRC, solar panels lose significant power and become unreliable around 20 years. However this isn't a one-moment-it's-brand-new to the-next-moment-it's-junk. As time goes on, the returns decrease. My guess is that for the average household set up, if you are looking for it to pay itself off in nominal terms, 15 years is probably as far as you would want to go (naturally, there are exceptions). A trick is figuring out a cheap way to keep these panels reliable until then.
That somebody would brave a risky expensive project with not-too-golden financial rewards over such time is commendable, especially in the not-exactly-guaranteed chance that it works as planned over a decade.
I don't see the problem if you belong to enough social sites. Just put every place site you have signed up to on the three lines. If they can get an electron tunneling microscope set up to read what you put down, then they deserve a shot.
Oh, and forget to tell them that you scrambled the password-site-username lists.
[disclaimer] I don't have much knowledge in this area [/disclaimer], but is it possible (not probable) that there is a danger that it could provoke an immune reaction? The article says it's not a pathogen, so I'm not worried that it's a threat, or that it would get in hollywood fashion out even in the very tiny tiny chance it was dangerous in anyway.
IIRC, chains of carbon nanotubes, graphene, buckyballs, and co. are prone to nasty weaknesses do to easily induced flaws in structures. So even if we could make a lot of this stuff, would it even be useful with these methods?
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[off topic] You can make the world's largest microwave oven... [/off topic]
I noticed this little tid bit:
200 megawatts of clean, renewable power over a 15 year period.
How much does that compare to the energy needed for getting it up in space, getting routine maintenance & repair up in space, the maintenance & repair itself, and possible decommissioning?
IIRC, solar panels lose significant power and become unreliable around 20 years. However this isn't a one-moment-it's-brand-new to the-next-moment-it's-junk. As time goes on, the returns decrease. My guess is that for the average household set up, if you are looking for it to pay itself off in nominal terms, 15 years is probably as far as you would want to go (naturally, there are exceptions). A trick is figuring out a cheap way to keep these panels reliable until then.
That somebody would brave a risky expensive project with not-too-golden financial rewards over such time is commendable, especially in the not-exactly-guaranteed chance that it works as planned over a decade.
I don't see the problem if you belong to enough social sites. Just put every place site you have signed up to on the three lines. If they can get an electron tunneling microscope set up to read what you put down, then they deserve a shot. Oh, and forget to tell them that you scrambled the password-site-username lists.
Doesn't RAM data become undatified when you turn the machine off?
[disclaimer] I don't have much knowledge in this area [/disclaimer], but is it possible (not probable) that there is a danger that it could provoke an immune reaction? The article says it's not a pathogen, so I'm not worried that it's a threat, or that it would get in hollywood fashion out even in the very tiny tiny chance it was dangerous in anyway.
IIRC, chains of carbon nanotubes, graphene, buckyballs, and co. are prone to nasty weaknesses do to easily induced flaws in structures. So even if we could make a lot of this stuff, would it even be useful with these methods?