Tapping Solar Wind's Renewable Energy 277
A few folks noted a story making the rounds about the huge energy potential just blowing past the planet in the form of solar wind. This research involves putting a satellite into orbit with a thousand-meter cable and a 5,000-mile sail to generate more power than the earth currently uses.
Sounds great... (Score:3, Funny)
Drag (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Drag (Score:5, Funny)
-1 Moronic
Re:Typo (Score:3, Funny)
You must be new here.
Cause we always have new people complaining about the editors.
Re:mixed units (Score:5, Funny)
"thousand meter cable, and 5,000 mile sail" Meters and miles. Isn't this use of mixed units the error that doomed a mars satellite?
That's ok, the energy unit that they use is the kilohome:
According to the team's calculations, 300 meters (984 feet) of copper wire, attached to a two-meter-wide (6.6-foot-wide) receiver and a 10-meter (32.8-foot) sail, would generate enough power for 1,000 homes.
You can convert that to English units using Home's Law.
Re:ISS (Score:5, Funny)
Don't be nasty. Just because a lot of Microsoft's products are resource hogs doesn't mean they all are.
Oh wait, you said ISS...
Re:Renewable (Score:5, Funny)
Obviously, you just remember to plant a new star so it'll be ready by the time the old one burns out.
That's just common sense.
Re:Sounds great... (Score:3, Funny)
- Live in grass huts and eat windfalls.
Re:Sounds great... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Sounds great... (Score:5, Funny)
Whenever I hear someone mention depopulation as a good idea I shudder. Just HOW do you suppose you are going to accomplish that?
A death ray powered by a solar wind collector, obviously.
It's right there in the summary, sheesh.
Re:Renewable (Score:3, Funny)
Obviously, power from solar wind is twice as renewable as power from either solar or wind individually.
Renewable? Ha! (Score:2, Funny)