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Nasmix t1_ixuil34 wrote

Reply to comment by imjustbrowsing123 in Europe wants to harness the power of the sun... from space/The ESA wants to collect solar energy from the cosmos to help the continent meet climate targets by Sorin61

Are you going to stand in the beam? No? Then all good

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imjustbrowsing123 t1_ixunobx wrote

No, but I don't stand in front of my wifi router but the signal is still all around me. I'm just curious whether it would be something similar or something stronger and potentially harmful. It's a cool concept, I just don't know how it would even begin to work.

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Jamaninja t1_ixusc87 wrote

I was at a space conference a couple of months ago, and there was company there promoting this very technology. They plan to beam the power back down to Earth at ~1/4 that of the sun's power. So it's not likely to cause significant damage to the land surrounding the site, and very likely couldn't be weaponised at those powers.

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imjustbrowsing123 t1_ixuu7si wrote

Thank you for answering the question. I appreciate it.

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Jamaninja t1_ixuuu1s wrote

You're welcome, I know that when they first started that presentation I was very skeptical of the safety of it too.

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nyaaaa t1_ixusbq1 wrote

Your wifi router doesn't use beams.

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man_gomer_lot t1_ixvm8hs wrote

It uses light, so technically it does. It's just on the same order of magnitude as the light from a bright star for a useable signal.

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nyaaaa t1_ixvup4p wrote

Compare a a laser pointer with the bulb lighting your room. Maybe it can help you understand what the word means.

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man_gomer_lot t1_ixw4x4u wrote

Wifi can be and is beamed just like any other light we manipulate or produce. The more relevant aspect of the discussion is magnitude, not the shape of emission.

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