RE: [cdn-nucl-l] Moon could meet Earth's power needs, lawmakers told

["Adam McLean" <adam.mclean@utoronto.ca>]

Hi Andy,

I believe the idea is to transmit energy in the form of microwaves
(typically mentioned as 2.45 GHz - similar to most cell phones - up to 35
GHz).  Achievable efficiency appears to be (currently) ~50%.  Check out NASA
for a good intro, at:

Beam it Down, Scotty!
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast23mar_1.htm

And for more depth:

Solar Power in Space 
http://space.bsdi.com/p.solar.html

High Power Converter of Microwaves into DC
http://jre.cplire.ru/jre/sep99/1/text.html

Efficient Electrostatic-Accelerator Free Electron Masers for Atmospheric
Power Beaming
http://www.eng.tau.ac.il/eng/associations/FEL/0b0.html

Hope that helps,

Adam

-----Original Message-----
From: cdn-nucl-l-admin@informer2.cis.McMaster.CA
[mailto:cdn-nucl-l-admin@informer2.cis.McMaster.CA] On Behalf Of Englishes
Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2003 6:23 AM
To: Jaro; multiple cdn
Subject: Re: [cdn-nucl-l] Moon could meet Earth's power needs, lawmakers
told

Jaro,

A few questions which, no doubt, will display my ignorance; (not that it
takes much to display it).. 1.  What is a power beam? 2.  How does it work?
3.  How much power is lost in transmission?

Cheers,
Andy