Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 10:37:13 -0700 (PDT)
From: Rich Lynch <rw_lynch at yahoo.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Solar Power Safety
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

--- "Strong, Lee" <StrongL at MTMC.ARMY.MIL> wrote:
> 	Keith Lynch points out that solar power satellites
> possess many
> safety advantages over nuclear reactors.  In
> addition, there are a number of
> obvious safety measures that can be taken to reduce
> concerns that a
> orbit-to-ground power transmission beam will turn
> into a Death Star type
> death ray.
> 	First, the transmitter satellite should track the
> accuracy of its
> target lock on the receiving antenna via celestial
> navigation and via
> comparison with ground station signals.  If it loses
> target lock by a small
> amount, it immediately corrects itself.  If it loses
> target lock by a larger
> amount, it shuts down the beam until target lock is
> definitely
> reestablished.  It uses multiple tracking techniques
> to insure a high degree
> of accuracy and therefore safety.  The ground
> station signals would be
> transmitted from rings of sensors surrounding the
> receiving antenna.  In all
> cases, the transmitter and ground stations would
> report any problems via
> multiple channels to human monitors who would be
> able to stop beam
> transmission by system commands, or, if all else
> fails, by a big knife
> switch.
> 	Second, the receiving antenna may be placed on
> waste ground where
> there is nothing under the antenna but bare rock and
> maybe ice.  A number of
> isolated valleys in the high Rocky Mountains meet
> this criterion.  There
> would still be a problem for birds flying into the
> beam, but birds are
> relatively rare in the high Rockies.
> 	Third, power transmission would be a logical job
> for an orbital
> tower.  Mount the solar power generators on the
> tower and all transmission
> is by landline.  Even if the generators are in a
> separate orbit,
> transmitting to the tower for landline relay to
> Earth would increase the
> safety factor over direct transmission to Earth.
>

Safety issues aside for the moment, they still make no
economic sense whatsoever.

=====
Rich Lynch
==========
MIMOSA web site: http://jophan.org/mimosa/
1960s Fan History Site: http://jophan.org/1960s/
http://www.livejournal.com/~rwl

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