Edmund Storms wrote:
This is a really bad idea, in the same category of putting solar cells in orbit and beaming the energy to the ground using lasers or microwaves. . . . Unfortunately, the ideas will never be implemented either because they are impractical . . .
I have long considered space-based power impractical, unless you first build a space elevator. However, in recent years remarkable progress has been made. Very low mass systems that deployed automatically to a Clarke orbit and then inflated (with air, I mean) are under development. That would be a lot easier than systems in LEO that have to be tracked.
In April, PG&E announced that they are actually contracted to buy 200 MW of space-based power starting in 2016. "Contracting" may not mean much but at least they are taking the idea seriously. See:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30198977/ - Jed
