Powering the planet from space. Closer to reality than you think?

Solar power stations in space. Sounds like pure science fiction doesn't it? And indeed, it was the likes of Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke who were among the first to consider the idea. But now there's a global race on to be the first to develop the concept into a genuinely functional system supplying solar power direct from space straight into our grids. And the prize for the winner could be massive.

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[gg]

Just watched a Bloomberg video on the same topic a few days ago, and I've got to say your presentation was much more thorough and informative. Have a great new year!

[stanhopkins]

Here's to another year of your superbly done thinking

[garrywanhella]

This was interesting in the science fiction I read as a boy, and should probably remain there. With infinite Geothermal power available, it would make more sense to develop closed-loop advanced Geothermal, like Eavor loop and others, for base load power needs anywhere on the planet.

[kingmasterlord]

I've been advocating for these for years

[stevestokes]

Love your Videos!! I learn so much and they inspire me to test, challenge and think beyond the norm or obvious!!

[punditgi]

Happy new year, mate! Kindly keep us informed in 2022! 😃

[tubularap]

Beams from space aimed at Earth. That can never be good. Hacking, power plays between nations, solar flares ... anything can go wrong with such a set-up. Like you said: "Bat-$hit bonkers".

[vornamenachname]

Beaming the energy back to eath is actually one of the hardests and most critial part. 8:06 a efficency of more than 50% is out of scope. You transfer electric energy into some form of electromagnetic wave. You send it a long way. You transfer it back.

[jamesgrover]

Thanks for the great work you've done this year and good luck to everyone in the new year ☺️

[williamholmes]

All the best for the New Year Dave, thanks for the shout out 🕯🙏

[abbable]

The best use of space produced power, will be space based manufacturing.
The moon has natural resources of metals. Metal can be smelted using inexpensive solar energy. Bulk metal ingots, or finished product can be shipped back to earth.

Economics of scale will determine if this will happen.

[susanfrombflo]

Thank you for such a truly worthwhile channel. Happy new year!

[Manicscitzo]

The most realistic use cases I've seen are for military applications where you beam down power to a mobile base anywhere in the world, that would be fairly useful and the cost efficiency isn't that important. For grid scale power it's hard to imagine how the economics work out when you can just slap a solar panel on your roof instead of launching it into space.

[rickemmet]

Thank you very much David, have a nice little New Year's break!

[Delian]

Yes, it's bonkers. Among dozens of other game-breaking technical issues, the energy transfer losses are simply too great.

[joopmeijer]

Cheers for the Pigs in space / Muppet Show reference!

[patrickfavier]

As a remote goal.. trying to colonise Mars as a private company might be closer to any goal achievable than any other country. As you mentioned, Starlink tech.. cheap launches, reusability etc.. all are needen for Mars. While solving a remote problem, they might end up solving a lot of more direct problems while doing it.

[ZirothTech]

Great video, loved the solar panel satellite animations! Sometimes the best place to put solar panels for generation is the hardest place to get the electricity from them! For example, it would be great to put them in the desert too! (though that would be more practical than space) - I definitely think all those bare rooftops are our best bet for now!

[sjorsvanrijswijk]

many thanks for considering my mental state, ever so thoughtful!

[RWBHere]

Thanks for the video. A few points come to mind:
+ Solar PV panels degrade in space. They replaced a number of panels on the ISS recently, because of degradation.
+ Solar panels will also be damaged by space junk which they will not be able to avoid.
+ Even the best lab samples of PV cells run at less than 35% efficiency.
+ How efficient is conversion of electricity to a laser beam? It cannot be more than a few percent.
+ What is the path loss between a satellite in orbit and a ground station? Even if it's only 10dB, that represents a 90% energy loss, most going into heating the atmosphere.
+ The atmosphere causes unavoidable scattering of any laser beam, even over quite short distances.
+ What percentage of the beam reaching the ground will be collected?
+ How much will be reflected, or simply missed?
+ What is the conversion loss between received laser beam energy and electricity? My guess is that it will be less than 35% again, and more likely closer to 20%.
+ The big killer: How much energy will it take to lift all of those satellites into orbit?
+ How much of that rocket fuel will end up as greenhouse gases? Probably all of it.
+ How much energy will be needed for maintenance of all of the satellites and receiving equipment?
+ What effect will all of those inefficiencies and infrastructure costs have on the price of electricity to consumers?
+ Also, how much more night time light pollution can be tolerated before Earth-based astronomical telescopes become useless for research?
+ What about aircraft accidentally flying through the laser beams?
+ How many birds will fly through the laser beams?

You were right; the whole idea is scat crazy. No way could it be made profitable. No sensible company would invest in it, without big subsidies from governments. Nor would they be willing to tolerate the consequences of an accident.