What is Digg?124 Comments
- Shambla, on 02/08/2008, -0/+36ION Cannon Ready...
- doublehead, on 02/08/2008, -3/+32I don't know . . . an ant colony and a magnifying glass comes to mind :)
- camkind, on 02/08/2008, -1/+28they should make sure to turn disasters off first
- joker1972, on 02/08/2008, -0/+18Someone been playing Simcity too much.
- biotch, on 02/08/2008, -0/+15Was anyone else reminded of sim city?
- Pinkertinkle, on 02/08/2008, -4/+19Wouldn't it be ironic if their microwave beam malfunctioned and fried Pearl Harbor?
- Kikkoman, on 02/08/2008, -0/+12A step closer to the era of gundams
- tommyredcoat, on 02/08/2008, -0/+9Icarus
- jasonw09, on 02/08/2008, -0/+7George W Bush...
- kingmanic, on 02/08/2008, -3/+9It'd be more ironic if it hit Hiroshima then Nagasaki.
- whiteknives, on 02/08/2008, -0/+61.21 Gigawatts!
- WolverineBlue, on 02/08/2008, -0/+6Japan won't turn off disasters. What would they do without random sea monster attacks?
- DeskFlyer, on 02/08/2008, -1/+6Gives new meaning to 'nuke it from orbit'.
- 5urr3al5am, on 02/08/2008, -0/+5thats the gayest thing I've ever heard
- max420, on 02/08/2008, -1/+6With high oil prices comes demand for cheaper energy. The oil prices are only going to get higher until a feasible alternate energy source is discovered and implemented. Until then... its going to suck.
- xptoast, on 02/08/2008, -0/+4cooked fish?
- Spoomeister, on 02/08/2008, -0/+4Whether it works, or goes horribly, horribly wrong... either way, sounds like the premise of an anime.
- LunaSoul, on 02/08/2008, -1/+5Didn't Tesla try something like this?
- Suzilla, on 02/08/2008, -0/+4Does this qualify as a "directed-energy" device? If so, is the beam of sufficient (or capable of sufficient) energy to disable (or destroy) objects on the ground, in the air, or in orbit?
- BossKey, on 02/08/2008, -0/+4Would you prefer another target, a military target? Then name it!
- dunderballer, on 02/08/2008, -0/+4I hope Virgin Galactic is considering getting into something like this. There is much more upside potential for space related energy solutions rather than space tourism. I don't see why the private sector couldn't do it just as well as government space agencies.
- thirdoffive, on 02/09/2008, -1/+5>How would you use this space-based solar array to make Earth a better place? Just curious...
You could do a lot with ungodly amounts of solar energy from space. If you sent up enough of those things there would be no need for oil or coal.
No more drilling in Alaska and bothering the arctic bunnies, no more oil wars, no more green house gases so all Earth's coastal cities could stay above sea level, no more mine collapses killing people digging for coal, no more toxic mercury being spewed from coal fired power plants, no more lung ailments for kids living near highways.
We need to get economies of scale going with these things so we can reap the benefits of being 100% solar powered. - manicallday, on 02/08/2008, -2/+6See this is the kinda ***** you can do with a surplus. Instead we just gave most ours away for nothing in return and spent the rest on war. All I know is that I better see some pretty cool ***** by 2010 - just like in the movie. This sucks!
- onionoino, on 02/09/2008, -0/+3better if they fried me some tempura
- max420, on 02/08/2008, -0/+3One can at least hope...
- HonestAbe, on 02/09/2008, -0/+3"The human body runs on a certain frequency."
You didn't do well in science class, did you? - xptoast, on 02/08/2008, -0/+3nuke a few countries:)
Pre-Cooked Terrorist. Just the smell I love in the morning. That or a hot sexy smelling woman next to me. - evanfp, on 02/08/2008, -0/+3i'm wondering how efficient this will be, meaning how much heat/energy is lost when the power is "beamed" down? certainly something to keep on eye on though.
- MasterGrief, on 02/09/2008, -0/+3My first thought had to do with Sim City, yes. Namely, the Microwave Power Station available for building in SC3000.
- BossKey, on 02/08/2008, -0/+3How about a house full of popcorn?
- wolfboy2883, on 02/09/2008, -0/+3That's exactly what I was thinking. I guess none of them ever played SimCity2000 with disasters enabled.
- purag66, on 05/13/2009, -0/+3I was attending a lecture from an energy expert (he was also part of the U.N. IPCC that won the Nobel prize along with Al Gore) and when he began talking about alternative energy sources, he mentioned microwave technology, and I cracked up from the back of the room. It was pretty embarrassing :/
- themonkman, on 02/08/2008, -0/+3This is an interesting idea indeed...however I wonder about the danger of putting 50-100+ more satellites in geosyncronous orbits. Eventually those satellites run out of fuel for their propulsion systems (which helps them adjust when they begin to wander outside of their normal orbital paths) and fall back down to earth. Most are incinerated on re-entry, but some debris does make it through. Granted, we have hundreds of satellites up there already, and NASA has made statements and concerns about the viability of space travel because of all of the space junk they have to avoid during takeoff and re-entry.
Also, I wonder how these high power microwave beams will affect the atmosphere. Microwaves are great at splitting atoms apart (which is where you get the heat from in your microwave at home), so I wonder if it'll break the bonds that hold O2 together and cause holes in our ozone. Also, what about animal life that flies through these beams? Could you anchor your boat nearby and get instantly cooked waterfowl just falling out of the sky into your boat? Hmm...now that wouldn't be such a bad idea. I do love waterfowl. Tasty! - init100, on 02/09/2008, -0/+2What are you talking about. They are not planning to launch a giant magnifying glass, they are planning to launch a giant grid of solar cells. The electric power generated will then be beamed back using microwaves. Thus, there will not be any higher-than-usual intensity of UV, IR, X-Ray, Gamma, etc.
- starkruzr, on 02/09/2008, -0/+2No, there isn't. The energy density of the beam isn't even enough to warm your skin. A field of rectennas is used to pick up the energy,
- ggerou, on 02/08/2008, -0/+2I loved in SimCity 2000 when these things would burn down my city.
- greenlight2001, on 02/08/2008, -1/+32.4 ghz
- ianmorris, on 02/08/2008, -1/+3orbital soler energy farms for the win.
- DarkJesus, on 02/09/2008, -1/+3I bet they are actually whale killing lasers.
- TrinitronX, on 02/08/2008, -1/+3Agreed. Not to mention the massive interference on other 2.4 GHz band technologies
- xptoast, on 02/08/2008, -0/+2Precooked fowl. Yummy.
- HonestAbe, on 02/09/2008, -0/+2Did you also invent shooting our garbage into the sun? Yeah I invented that when I was 6, too.
- SlimFastForYou, on 02/09/2008, -0/+2Aim it at the garbage continents in the ocean and melt all the plastic together! Then instead of it being lots of little floating items it'll be one big floating plastic island! It'd be a unique piece of real estate :)
- YojimboJango, on 02/09/2008, -0/+2Am I the first person to wonder if the company that backs this is named Genom?
- 5urr3al5am, on 02/08/2008, -0/+2meh... just wait until everyone else has these dainty hybrids and no one is using gas... then when I pull up to the gas station it will only cost me $5 to fill my vehicle!!
- sanman, on 02/09/2008, -0/+2But at 2.4Ghz, will it give decent download bandwidth?
- mysticalone, on 02/09/2008, -0/+2I know I watch too much anime but, those satellites will need to be defended and uh it's going to be defended by a mobile suit. I volunteer to pilot these suits to defend your solar power Japan, just let me keep the suit.
- Averness, on 02/09/2008, -0/+2In the future, everything will run on broadcast power, and most of it will be solar generated. This is just a step towards that future tech.
- phrawgh, on 02/08/2008, -0/+2Powersat by Ben Bova
- YevS, on 02/12/2008, -0/+1A: Its a lot more efficient. Converting Solar into another wave form to cut through the atmosphere with less loss.
B: Distribution is global with no need for miles and miles of lossy cables
C: It's clean.
D: The sky is the limit - litteraly. -
Show 51 - 100 of 121 discussions
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