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TheRealCBlazer t1_ixinkng wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in China says it will use the Tiangong Space Station to test the transmission of space-based solar power to Earth. by lughnasadh

But with the ability to beam power anywhere in the solar system, you don't need to launch from Earth. Everything can be mined, refined, manufactured, and deployed in zero-g or micro-g.

The Earth-based outlay would not be in the form of close solar orbit panels. It would be self-replicating machinery deployed to the asteroid belt. Possibly even deployed from Earth's moon (which admittedly still traces back to initial launches from Earth). But the vast bulk of the grid would not be launched from Earth.

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[deleted] t1_ixip9ck wrote

[deleted]

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TheRealCBlazer t1_ixiqc2m wrote

The idea is to mitigate global warming by moving as much resource collection, refining, manufacturing, and energy production into space, asap. This is not hyper future tech. I speak on this personally, because it was mine and my professor's area of focus in electromagnetics and electrodynamics in 1997. Of course, it takes time, money, and will to implement, which the Chinese are now doing. These first steps are not the final product, but they are necessary to get there, and I'm glad someone is finally doing it. You're right about the fact that we've waited far too long already.

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jhev1 t1_ixiso6d wrote

>The idea is to mitigate global warming

By the time this tech is a reality the earth will be well past the point of no return, which is projected anywhere from 10 to 75 years

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