Joe Strout :

Nonsense. The microwave power beam from a solar power satellite has
half the power density of sunlight. You could walk right through it and
probably wouldn't even notice.

think you are wrong there. As you walk thru the beam you will probably
think it is a very hot day and go looking for a drink. Powersats promote
beer sales, that is why there is a sercet cabal of German Brewmasters behind
the push for space power.

I don't think that mirrors could focus light on Earth's surface enough
to cause major damage, either.

High school math is your friend. Basicly, a point source from an orbiting
mirror reflecting to Earth's surface with expand in width 1/100 it's attitude
on the surface.

Simple model: Orbit a mirror at 200 KMs and see how much it can increase
light desity on Earth if it is perfect.

Min. Spot size on Earth 2KM.

1KM mirror, - Solar flux increase 25%, Total flux 125% - Just a hot day.

2KM mirror, - Solar flux increase 100%, Total flux 200% - Feel the heat.

4KM mirror, - Solar flux increase 400%, Total flux 500% - Now that is
getting hot!

The problem is 200KM is very low, you have major orbital decay problems, the
transit time across the sky is very fast so you need a lot of mirrors or alot
of downtime.

So let's try 1000KM.

Min. Spot size on Earth 10KM.

1KM mirror, - Solar flux increase 1%, Total flux 101% - This will not be
noticeable.

2KM mirror, - Solar flux increase 4%, Total flux 104% - Not much better.

4KM mirror, - Solar flux increase 16%, Total flux 116% - Just noticable!

Basicly mirrors need to be min of 1% in diameter of thier attitude to achive
even a 100% increase of the solar flux. Thier use as a weapon does not make
sense.

Earl Colby Pottinger

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