Is this theoretically possible?
Question:
It would probably have to be a satelite belt orbiting Earth. But, suppose that by putting hundreds or thousands of satelites at a time in front of the sun, we could reduce - say 0.01% - of the Sun's direct radiation and that this energy was beamed directly into thermo power plants. Maybe this could be done with a mirror system or simply using lasers. Then, that extra heat could be partly converted into other forms of energy instead of heat, as would normaly occur.
At the same time, this could avoid the production of heat as a by product of other generating methods, such as nuclear and oil burning thermo-electric, as well as gas build up that would enhance green-house effect.
Supposing we had the technology, would this make a dent on global warming
Answer:
we can do many things but there are practicality an limitations involved to do this on alarge scale.
besides if you do this you'l be blocking my view of the sun. I like the sun.
um .. anything is possible try it, maybe it will be a breakthrough
ummm.. thats a little drastic (i only read the first paragraph) so..if we had the technology, yeah
Well obviously it would cost a boat load of money, but we already knew that. The next biggest problem would be getting the energy to earth. I don't know if it's possible to beam energy through space. Do you know something I don't?
Global warming isn't anything new. The world gets warmer and colder naturally over many years.
Is this a question or a speech?
:)
One of the big holes in this idea is how are you "beaming" the energy to earth? You first collect energy from the sun with solar panneled spacecraft (significant loss of energy), then "beam" it to earth (another major loss of energy), and then finally collect it on earth (yet another major loss of energy), and finally send that energy out in a usable form (againg - loss of energy).
Oddly enough, this sound very similar to the Microwave Power Station in one of the SimCity games (SimCity 2000 I think).
So odds are it's basically possible - no fundamental laws of physics are broken. Just the question of cost/efficiency.
First off space isn't exactly calm near the sun you have vast amounts of radiation and solar winds, particles on a trajectory into the sun that cannot go into orbit, plus other particles in extremely fast orbit that can withstand the heat. You'd have to have something in orbit to avoid all this, possibly between the orbits of mercury and venus, the gravitational pull of the two planets would reduce the chances of space debris hitting your structure.
Second you don't just "beam" energy somewhere, and both the trasnmitter and receiver is in constant motion with celestial bodies getting in the way, gamma radiation and other interference so an uplink would need a whole team of satellites in different locations to create a stable connection. Even so your uplink would be painfully slow. Another option would be battery transport, you could store the energy into battery units that are transported off the station via shuttle. But, this isn't cost effective, an effecient solar unit wouldn't benefit from being close to the sun any more than if it was in orbit around a planet, it's about effeciency, how much energy is lost in the transfer. And again with the transference it's a waste
Thirdly to block even a portion of the sun getting to another planet it would have to be HUGE! I'm talking bigger than the earth, by far. And the sun is not the problem with global warming planets generate their own atmsopheres resulting from the materials present in them, distance from the sun and their gravity.
Now if you want to utilize solar power you need to think about the effeciency rating. The sun is the source of every source of energy on the earth with the possible exception of nuclear. Coal oil gas methane etc. are all the sun's energy that has been harnessed and stored by plants or animals. If a machine can convert photons into electrical energy more effeciently it's near limitless power. They would be ore efficient outside of the earth's atmosphere as it acts a shield to solar radiation but once in space distance isn'ta big deal, more photons would hit the panel but the whole solar system is saturated with photons. But they would have to be directly attached to the device to use them, satellites, shuttles, space stations ect. It's far more economical than a costly transfer.
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