Scientist Transmits Solar Power on Earth, Next Up: Space

Scientist Transmits Solar Power on Earth, Next Up: Space

It's good to see Tesla's legacy live on!

Funded by the Discovery Channel, John C. Mankins finished a four month experiment which began by collecting solar power, nothing out of the ordinary. What happened next was relatively extraordinary, though -- he transmitted the power 92 miles (148 km) between two Hawaiian Islands.

Terrestrial power transmission is only of interest to Mr. Mankins as a proof of concept. Mr. Mankins' true plans are out of this world. He envisions a network of 1,102 lb. (500 kg) satellites beaming solar power collected from panels back to Earth, satisfying all the world's power needs.

The most unsurprising part is the last almost throw away line.

The U.S. military is investigating similar plans to use satellite based solar power to beam power to troops on the battlefield.

Remembering back to lessons on Tesla, and private studies on the man...
He was denied funding for his work on wireless power transmissions because it would be impossible to track how much power the individual user is required to pay for.

Basically it was denied because his benefactor couldn't "put a meter on it".


My question is, can this system be metered? Who will foot the bill for the satellites? The tax payers? Or will they find a way to meter it, and hence, bill directly through the power companies?

It's quite easy, you rent the receiving gear and meter it. Sure some people can steal it but it works just like satellite TV, the majority are honest.

If you use a microwave laser to beam the power, you sure can put a meter on it. A laser is focused on a precise point, versus radiating in all directions. It'd almost be like running a physical cable in that to tap in to it, you have to be within range of the laser.

The concept of Microwave transference of power from platform to grid has been around for quite some time now. Since the 60's I believe. We've just never bothered to put it into practice, as putting it into practice requires constant monitoring of it's aim.

I didn't read anything about him using the microwave band, did I miss something?

If he is, then all he's done is put into practice what has already been demonstrated in labs for over 40 years.


Oh well...

reply to post by Shere Khaan



Those were my guys (and gals) at JP Aerospace who sent the experimental solar cells to 107,000 feet for the first part of the experiment.

Go Team!

reply to post by Bhadhidar


Awesome work!

The military invovled much with this tech or are they just interested from the sidelines?

reply to post by Shere Khaan


The military is NOT involved AT All in anything JPA does, currently.

Nor is it likely that the military will ever be allowed involvement in a JPA project in the future.


JPA participated in a US Air Force contract to develop the "Ascender" Near-Space Airship several years ago. USAF interference with the project resulted in a near tragedy and did cause the complete destruction of the prototype vehicle. Not to mention nearly breaking the company financially.


To this day, despite repeated offers, the president of the company, John Powell (seen in the Dicovery Channel segment) refuses to take part in any further military contracts.

Originally posted by johnsky
Remembering back to lessons on Tesla, and private studies on the man...
He was denied funding for his work on wireless power transmissions because it would be impossible to track how much power the individual user is required to pay for.

Basically it was denied because his benefactor couldn't "put a meter on it".


My question is, can this system be metered? Who will foot the bill for the satellites? The tax payers? Or will they find a way to meter it, and hence, bill directly through the power companies?

Great minds think alike. I wonder how many people read that all over the world, and didn't realize this is a 100 year old "technology"?

Tesla was banished to the realms of pseudo-science becaus ethe powers that be identified that his technologies would lead to a non-monetary society.

A non-monetary society takes away most of the power that the rich and powerful have, and takes us closer to the utopian ideals of Marxism.

This is something that cannot be tolerated by the few that have so much more than the masses.

Originally posted by Psychopump
A non-monetary society takes away most of the power that the rich and powerful have, and takes us closer to the utopian ideals of Marxism.

This is something that cannot be tolerated by the few that have so much more than the masses.

I can't find any common sense in what you wrote here. After all, Tesla worked, with a degree of success, on TECHNOLOGY and not IDEOLOGY. His inventions are still around, and some of others, like cell phones, are in general vein of his ideas. New technologies in themselves, however revolutionary, do not lead to revolutions in society.

Just wondering what would happen if say for instance they did scale this principle up to a satellite, and that array got nudged off target a little, would they be able to shut the beam off quickly? or could we have huge tracks of scorched earth?? At those distances you would be talking only a few degrees.. I suppose the reciever station would be way out of built up areas, the article dosen't really go into the principle too much though - interesting, could work for moon bases? but then again there is no atmosphere on the moon so you may as well have the solar panels on the surface.

The japanese tested a satellite based system almost ten years ago, the microwave beam is actually spread of a couple of square miles at the ground receiver site.

Tesla did not "transmit" electricity, he tapped into the earths natural electric field

reply to post by Now_Then


As punkinworks said, the beam is not really that tight. Add to that a feedback loop between the collector and the satellite and you have a pretty safe system.

I wonder how clouds would affect it.

Originally posted by buddhasystem
...New technologies in themselves, however revolutionary, do not lead to revolutions in society.

I must disagree. Imagine the ramifications if I developed a device the size and shape of a breadbox (or for you younger people, about the size of a desktop PC), and it outputted enough power to run my home day and night. Furthermore, you wouldn't have to replace this device but every 20-25 years, and it cost about the same as a PC.

How long would it take before someone realizes they can use it to run an electric car? How long before someone uses it to power an aircraft? How long until independent truckers replace their diesel fuel with electric motors and this device? Someone would have it attached to a bicycle before the end of the day when it was released.

Or, how about this one: A personal force-field that surrounds your body, and with the touch of a button, it springs to "life", knocking anyone holding on to you back to a distance of 2 feet. Bullets, knives, clubs, etc. cannot penetrate this device. How long before it becomes a "personal security device"? How long before someone adapts it to cars? To houses? To tanks, and warships? How long before TPTB realize war would no longer be functional?

BTW, the above examples are two things that Tesla said he did. He is said to have demonstrated the former. The later he claimed he could build to shield entire cities though, not a "personal" force field.

reply to post by sir_chancealot


I agree with your disagreement.

I just posted in another thread about Robert Heinlein. One of the things that made him a true master of science fiction was his ability to take a current, emerging technology, extend it's development, and "predict" its effect on society.

The internet. New technology. Developed. Can you deny its effect on society?