Solar-powered Satellite Weapon?

posted on 10/24/07 at 01:19
Solar-powered Satellite Weapon?

www.nss.org...


I was playing an old wargame (Command & Conquer - Generals) on the computer and one of the weapons was a space satellite pouring a high energy beam on my enemies
(In this case the Chinese, other choice of enemy a desert based arab-looking group), frying anything it touched. Nice toy.

I have always thought ideas express themselves in many ways at similar times, a result of some unknown matrix that seems to underlay everything, perhaps its just chance, there are after all a lot of people thinking, ideas are bound to be similar.
When i read about this (check the link) solar POWER beaming satellite proposal my ATS brain said hmmm...If I wanted that weapon and wanted no-one else to know how would I disguise it...hmmm...whats nice, safe and popular....solar...hmmm.
Is the paranoia setting in?

www.nss.org...

check the videos

Well, you wouldn't have more power available than you were collecting. That would have to be one HELL of a solar panel to collect sufficient energy to do any focused damage.

Then, of course, you've got generation and path losses to deal with.

And a large enough microwave source to do this damage - since you're talking about power sats I guess you're referring to microwaves, which will be massive and quite heavy.

And then you have to orbit it all.

On top of which, it's going to be big and necessarily flimsy to have enough surface for power collection, so it's a sucker for an ASAT attack.

Build it on the moon they say! none of that expensive liftoff rocketry..

Lunar Resources Utilization for Space Construction. Study conducted for NASA by General Dynamics Convair Division in 1979 concluded that lunar resources could supply 90% of the material for power satellite production and become cost effective if more than 30 satellites are produced. A nice summary of this study appears in Toward Distant Suns, Chapter 8.

www.nss.org...

microwaves dont seem to be a problem...

The reference system developed by NASA for the study (a 10x5 km satellite using photovoltaic or thermal collectors to feed a 2.45 GHz transmitter using klystrons and delivering 5 GWe to utility grids on the earth via a 10x13 km receiving antenna) uses only known technology and is amenable to evolutionary development. Solar Power Satellites appear to be not only technically possible, but also subject to technical improvement. For example, advanced concepts with improved technology, developed only 2-1/2 years after the reference system was evolved, project a capital cost reduction from the reference system estimate of $3000 per kilowatt to $1500 per kilowatt.

the press release

whack in some big capacitors for a short burst of death...
doesnt sound too hard..

If only it were that simple, I'm just curious how long it would take to gather enough energy for sequenced discharges.

"Ok, fire the weapon! That's good, once more!... Wait what? We need to wait 4 hours?! But the enemy is still charging!"

Can it do enough damage in the first shot?

Shattered OUT...

Originally posted by aussiespeeder
microwaves dont seem to be a problem...

The reference system developed by NASA for the study (a 10x5 km satellite using photovoltaic or thermal collectors to feed a 2.45 GHz transmitter using klystrons and delivering 5 GWe to utility grids on the earth via a 10x13 km receiving antenna) uses only known technology and is amenable to evolutionary development. Solar Power Satellites appear to be not only technically possible, but also subject to technical improvement. For example, advanced concepts with improved technology, developed only 2-1/2 years after the reference system was evolved, project a capital cost reduction from the reference system estimate of $3000 per kilowatt to $1500 per kilowatt.

the press release

whack in some big capacitors for a short burst of death...
doesnt sound too hard..

At 1500 a kw, a 5GW setup is $7.5 thousand million bucks.

And it's big, visible and flimsy. That 10x13 km focus is pretty mushy too, you probably wouldn't feel it.

I could just shoot you at about 5 cents a cartridge, though.