The CEO, Andrew Rush, is on the latest MECO podcast. Some interesting ideas but I’d like to know what kind of transmitter they’re looking to use for this and what kind of efficiency they’d hope to achieve. I was initially thinking they were talking about using reflectors but if they’re tuning the beam to only deliver usable wavelengths for conventional solar then they’re presumably using their own photo-voltaic arrays.
I was initially thinking they were talking about using reflectors but if they’re tuning the beam to only deliver usable wavelengths
A mirror would be much simpler. To deliver specific wavelengths in a columnated beam implies lasers. Any energy lost in the conversion from light, to electricity, and back to light, will need to be radiated from the spacecraft as heat.
The CEO, Andrew Rush, is on the latest MECO podcast. Some interesting ideas but I’d like to know what kind of transmitter they’re looking to use for this and what kind of efficiency they’d hope to achieve. I was initially thinking they were talking about using reflectors but if they’re tuning the beam to only deliver usable wavelengths for conventional solar then they’re presumably using their own photo-voltaic arrays.
A mirror would be much simpler. To deliver specific wavelengths in a columnated beam implies lasers. Any energy lost in the conversion from light, to electricity, and back to light, will need to be radiated from the spacecraft as heat.
This seems like a good fit for a K2 bus.