SpaceX's Elon Musk Talks Rockets, Moon Base and Colonization

With BFR available may be SPS could become practical??

Selvaraj

...........................

Beam Safety and Consequences

I dont worry too much about keeping the beam from veering off the
collection region. There are clever, fail-safe schemes for ensuring proper
alignment/pointing. According to the Wikipedia page
on the topic, the
recommended transmission strength would be 230 W/m in the center of the
beam. This is about a quarter the strength of full sunlight, and is thought
to be a safe level through which aircraft and birds can fly.

At this level, our 3.6 km diameter collecting area would generate about
40 GWh of energy in a day, at an assumed reception/conversion efficiency of
70%. By comparison, a flat array of 15%-efficient PV panels occupying the
same area in the Mojave Desert would generate about a fourth as much energy
averaged over the year. So these beaming hotspots are not terribly more
concentrated than what the sunlight provides already. Again, I find myself
scratching my head as to why we should go to so much trouble.

https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2012/03/space-based-solar-power/

On 24 October 2017 at 19:29, sailorbarsoom@... [spacesettlers] <
spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

>
> I live in a one-bedroom apartment, second floor. I doubt there's enough
> roof space for me and my downstairs neighbor both.
>

Selvaraj
...........................
Beam Safety and Consequences
I dont worry too much about keeping the beam from veering off the collection region. There are clever, fail-safe schemes for ensuring proper alignment/pointing. According to the
Wikipedia page
on the topic, the recommended transmission strength would be 230W/m in the center of the beam. This is about a quarter the strength of full sunlight, and is thought to be a safe level through which aircraft and birds can fly.
At this level, our 3.6km diameter collecting area would generate about 40GWh of energy in a day, at an assumed reception/conversion efficiency of 70%. By comparison, a flat array of 15%-efficient PV panels occupying the same area in the Mojave Desert would generate about a fourth as much energy averaged over the year. So these beaming hotspots are not terribly more concentrated than what the sunlight provides already. Again, I find myself scratching my head as to why we should go to so much trouble.
https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2012/03/space-based-solar-power/
On 24 October 2017 at 19:29,
sailorbarsoom@...
[spacesettlers]
<
spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com
>

I live in a one-bedroom apartment, second floor. I doubt there's enough roof space for me and my downstairs neighbor both.