Here's a NASA article
on ProSEDS - a shuttle experiment to generate power
by dragging a conductive tether through the upper atmosphere. In the initial experiment, the tether
generated twice the predicted current, even though the tether didn't deploy
properly. If I understand the physical
principle behind it correctly, the higher the field differential between the ends
of the tether (i.e, the longer the cable), the higher
the current generated. A tether
extending over many kilometers would be an outstanding power source -- although
it's difficult to predict all the possible environmental implications (still,
much less than burning tons of fossil fuel everyday.) Also, as with a conventional dynamo/motor, by
feeding electricity into the tether, you can use it for propulsion - raising or
lowering a vehicle through the upper atmosphere without expending propellant.
Does this remind anybody of Lysenkoism? For a long time, the Soviets under Stalin maintained that science had to support party policy, even if it resulted in horribly distorted science. Scientists who dissented were suppressed and sent to prison camps.The government policies based on the resulting bad science (particularly in agriculture) resulted in countless deaths from starvation, and kept back Russian science in many fields for decades. OK, so we're not sending scientists to prison camps yet; But it's scary to think that we might allow politically-motivated committees to determine what is scientific "truth" based on what the current administration would like to be true. Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of the past are destined to repeat them.
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Here's a NASA article on ProSEDS - a shuttle experiment to generate power by dragging a conductive tether through the upper atmosphere. In the initial experiment, the tether generated twice the predicted current, even though the tether didn't deploy properly. If I understand the physical principle behind it correctly, the higher the field differential between the ends of the tether (i.e, the longer the cable), the higher the current generated. A tether extending over many kilometers would be an outstanding power source -- although it's difficult to predict all the possible environmental implications (still, much less than burning tons of fossil fuel everyday.) Also, as with a conventional dynamo/motor, by feeding electricity into the tether, you can use it for propulsion - raising or lowering a vehicle through the upper atmosphere without expending propellant.
Does this remind anybody of Lysenkoism? For a long time, the Soviets under Stalin maintained that science had to support party policy, even if it resulted in horribly distorted science. Scientists who dissented were suppressed and sent to prison camps.The government policies based on the resulting bad science (particularly in agriculture) resulted in countless deaths from starvation, and kept back Russian science in many fields for decades. OK, so we're not sending scientists to prison camps yet; But it's scary to think that we might allow politically-motivated committees to determine what is scientific "truth" based on what the current administration would like to be true. Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of the past are destined to repeat them.