i’m not an engineer at NASA but i knw for a fact – Mobil sycnthetic oil has never failed to lubricate any moving part in all machines – includng solar panels in space.
At this time, they aren’t — we don’t have the capability t build orbital solar power plants.
Potentially, this is huge. There is more power that could be tapped and sent to earth via microwave transmissions than we can use. Ad, with unlimited nd cheap solar power, electric cars as the norm becomes a real alternative. That, combined with more efficient aircraft and other systems that use petroleum, means a market share for oil a fraction of it’s current size. Which means domestic supplies will cover our needs — so we won’t need to buy foreign oil.
That’s an oversimplified — but valid — scenario. In reality, alternative energy o f several kindsof alternative energy (wind, earth based solar, etc.) plus energy efficient designs for cars industry and business will all play a part. Orbital solar power might — or might not — play a part.
The central fact here is this: oil (plus coal and eventually natural gas) are becoming obsolete. That is their death sentence. Not environmentalism — market forces are going t kill the fossil fuel industry in he next few decades. The only green” that’s involved is money.
In some science fiction ideas, dreams of environmental engineers, and similar places, there could be the thought that space based solar power could be captured and beamed down to Earth might reduce our dependence on oil or other fossil fuels.
Unfortunately, the overall efficiency of this kind of system is such that it would be much more efficient to install solar power stations in desert areas on the surface of the Earth. This also would save the huge cost and environment burdens of launching all that hardware into space.
One benefit could be there would not be long-term (overnight) shadow for the power stations in space. If these were geostationary satellites, we’d likely have to give up all the television and other communications satellites in the equatorial synchronous satellite band. Then, at 23,000 miles range from the satellites to the ground stations, we have significant microwave power loss.
i’m not an engineer at NASA but i knw for a fact – Mobil sycnthetic oil has never failed to lubricate any moving part in all machines – includng solar panels in space.
At this time, they aren’t — we don’t have the capability t build orbital solar power plants.
Potentially, this is huge. There is more power that could be tapped and sent to earth via microwave transmissions than we can use. Ad, with unlimited nd cheap solar power, electric cars as the norm becomes a real alternative. That, combined with more efficient aircraft and other systems that use petroleum, means a market share for oil a fraction of it’s current size. Which means domestic supplies will cover our needs — so we won’t need to buy foreign oil.
That’s an oversimplified — but valid — scenario. In reality, alternative energy o f several kindsof alternative energy (wind, earth based solar, etc.) plus energy efficient designs for cars industry and business will all play a part. Orbital solar power might — or might not — play a part.
The central fact here is this: oil (plus coal and eventually natural gas) are becoming obsolete. That is their death sentence. Not environmentalism — market forces are going t kill the fossil fuel industry in he next few decades. The only green” that’s involved is money.
In some science fiction ideas, dreams of environmental engineers, and similar places, there could be the thought that space based solar power could be captured and beamed down to Earth might reduce our dependence on oil or other fossil fuels.
Unfortunately, the overall efficiency of this kind of system is such that it would be much more efficient to install solar power stations in desert areas on the surface of the Earth. This also would save the huge cost and environment burdens of launching all that hardware into space.
One benefit could be there would not be long-term (overnight) shadow for the power stations in space. If these were geostationary satellites, we’d likely have to give up all the television and other communications satellites in the equatorial synchronous satellite band. Then, at 23,000 miles range from the satellites to the ground stations, we have significant microwave power loss.