karn@eagle.UUCP (Phil Karn) (11/03/83)
If you think "energy in space is cheap", then I can't help what you may personally be in orbit around (apologies to HGttG). My experience with amateur satellite construction has driven home the EXTREME COST of generating electrical power in space. The solar array contract has dominated the cost of every satellite we've made; the typical cost for a 50 watt array is $50,000!! (Admittedly you could do better by using a three-axis stabilized array, but only by a factor of pi.) Needless to say, this economic imperative pervades the entire electronics design. Perhaps things will improve in the future, but I just wanted to drive home the wide gap between what people are proposing with the SPS and current reality. Phil Karn AMSAT
andree@uokvax.UUCP (11/09/83)
#R:sri-arpa:-1284900:uokvax:5600001:000:361 uokvax!andree Oct 30 17:58:00 1983 The problem then becomes one of balance. You don't want your elevator drifting up in orbit any more than you want it drifting down. The solution of piping energy back to earth isn't bad. Several people have pointed out that in space `Energy is Cheap.' I never thought I'd see disposing of energy as a problem, though; to much like disposing of money. <mike