Energy-Beaming Space Collector To Also Alter Weather?

Recently we covered California utility company PG&E's ambitious deal with upstart Solaren to beam energy to earth from a space-based solar collector. What we didn't know is Solaren's patent also covers the alteration of weather elements with that very same system. "By heating up the upper and middle levels of an infant hurricane, they say they could disrupt the flows of air that power the enormous storms. Air warmed by tropical waters flows up through a hurricane and is vented through the eye into the upper atmosphere. Theoretically, you could heat up the top of the storm and lower the pressure differential between layers, resulting in a weaker storm. "

Prior art

[Anonymous Coward]

Didn't Cobra already do this in like 1985?

Real genius at work.

[Xiver]

It's a chemical laser but in solid, not gaseous, form. Put simply, in deference to you, Kent, it's like lasing a stick of dynamite. As soon as we apply a field, we couple to a state, it is radiatively coupled to the ground state. I figure we can extract at least ten to the twenty-first photons per cubic centimeter which will give one kilojoule per cubic centimeter at 600 nanometers, or, one megajoule per liter.

But what would you use that for?

iMayday! iMayday! We're going down!

[geekmux]

I'm guessing it would be disastrous for an airplane to fly in the "beam", no?

Ah, since apparently a commercial airliner can be brought down with an iPod Click Wheel being used during takeoff or landing, I'd give your query a resounding yes...

Technical Specifications Document

[A. B3ttik]

Apparently, the power plant [gamefaqs.com] would be completed in 2020, have an expected output of 1600 megawatts, last for 50 years, and cost only $28 Million.

Personally, I think that while our Coal Plants are dirty, they should last well up until 2050, when Fusion Power is expected to showcase.

Re:Lots o' power

[Shakrai]

Seriously folks-- does the sound of someone beaming down terajoules from the sky make you just a little bit nervous?

Yeah, but we'll only need the solar power plant until 2050 when Fusion becomes available ;)

Re:Please consult a meteorologist before patenting

[Quiet_Desperation]

Exactly. You need cold, so the only real solution is to detonate a nuclear device deep under the ocean in front of the hurricane so that the upwelling of cold water saps the storm of its strength. Find a flaw in that plan! I dare you!!!!

I can out mad scientist ANYONE! Muh ha ha ha! :-)

Re:So..

[Colonel Korn]

If you've every read Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy, it's the same scenario.

Except Clancy was always terrible.

Fixed that for you.

Re:Lots o' power

[CorporateSuit]

Probably the same as a 'no burn' policy put in place in most forests a century ago. Eventually the dry stuff builds up to the point where when it does catch fire, you're fucked.

Imagine a hurricane formed with the energy from 5-10 damped out storms.

Oh, you are underestimating things. Imagine it "working" for 5-10 years or decades and then all the sudden new hurricanes are 50-100 times more powerful for a few years.

There's nothing to worry about. We've been controlling storms for 50 years now. The sky is still blue, the clouds still white, the ocean still sparkling, and although we did have a few scares last year (some big, red ones you wouldn't believe!), nothing has come through that our energy beams haven't been able to divert!

Glax Northog
Solar Satellites of Jupiter, Inc.
Posted 4:29 PM, September 8th 780000000 BC

Butterfly....

[changa]

Wouldn't it be easier to just find that god-damed butterfly that causes all those hurricanes?

Re:Downside... and Upside...

[Anonymous Coward]

And, a Category 5 "Whoosh!" to you.

Re:So..

[Anonymous Coward]

Tea hurricanes are the worst form of terrorism.

Re:So..

[Gilmoure]

But would they do it with a Sean Connery accent?

Re:Solaren Website down. Slashdotted?

[Anonymous Coward]

How are you going to get a space based solar panel array up, if you cant even keep your website up?

Viagra?

Re:So..

[waddleman]

Yea, but the government has the authority to use force. Disney can loop "It's a Small World." Pick your poison.

Re:Asteroids

[Arthur Grumbine]

Yes! Let's shoot microwaves at a giant chunk of nickel-iron that's hurtling towards us! That way it'll be a giant ball of molten nickel-iron** when it arrives!!

** I have no clue if microwaves would/could even heat up a nickel-iron (assuming of course an orders of magnitude larger "death-ray" then they're planning), but I know sure as shit they're not going to divert it to any measurable degree.