"dood, don't worry about it!"

UNFLAPPABLE

yes, it would be an asynchronous orbit that would leave it in direct sunlight 99% of the time.

You guys should've read that article I posted; it answers all of your questions.

Mainly, the funding question; Ben Bova suggests that funding for an SPS system could be accomplished not through the use of federal grants, but rather federal loans . This is how the hoover dam was funded, and it paid itself off entirely by selling the power it generated in 50 years. Furthermore, the operating cost of a dam as massive as that is quite high whereas once an SPS is built, maintenance is minimal in comparison. A single SPS could potentially power all of New York City... something as capable as that probably wouldn't take very long to pay for itself.

As for the accidental straying of laser beams and microwaves... the lasers and microwaves in question would be so diffuse that even if this happened, they would be harmless. Birds and planes would be able to fly right through the microwaves without harm. Cattle and crops can even be safely placed under the microwave recievers.

why don't you just can it: Canstruction's Can Sculptures

from

horkulated

one so this thursday is nrmls wlcm's 1 year anniversary party, yeah? Victory?
two after countless hours of serious nonsense, i'm up and running with cubase sx, logic express, reason, and ableton.
three yeah i be down to check out cadence's night- so long as it doesn't totally fuck up VINYL SOLUTION tuesdays at wunder. i'll let you know later.
four new animal collective in oct


1. did you see the words
2. grass
3. flesh canoe
4. the purple bottle
5. bees 
6. banshee beat
7. daffy duck
8. lock raven
9. turn into something

So has anything more been discussed about the birthday weekend coming up? Initially, I'd heard talk of mexican food, or even barbeque action. Here's my suggestion:

afternoon/early evening: birthday bbq, at somewhere like hawrelak or so
evening/night: off to the pub (E&C? O'Byrne's?) for some beerlarity

And we'll definitely have to get in on some of that Victory Lounge on Tuesdays action once it gets going.

It sounded to me like it would be in an asynchronous orbit so they could maximize the amount of sunlight it gets. In a geo-synchronous orbit it would only get 12 hours of sunlight a day... and some of those hours it wouldn't be much.

Well Alison I somehow have faith in humans to make the right choice. It'll definitly take time for a change, maybe time we don't have. But somehow I think we'll finally figure it out and save ourselves before we waste everything on this planet (maybe guys like me and enviromentalist need to get together?). I'll start by getting a small compact car with some actual good mileage. Hint, hint RSX (Pretty good mileage, 1000 Km on one tank. Tank size is 50 liters).

Satelites have either Geo-Synchronus orbits or asynchronus orbits.

Geosynchonus only orbits on one point above a planet. If it is over a certain point like say over your house, it'll be over your house night and day. Think of the physics like swinging a ball at a end of a rope. The rope is gravity and the forward force is the inital release speed of the satelite. The ball will go around that one point of rotation as long as you hold on. And in real life the satelite will orbit over your house as long as gravity and speed are constant. Let go of the rope and the ball goes flying. In real life this only happens if gravity somehow stops (not likely, well with realistic situations) or the speed of the satelite is changed. If the speed is increased it goes into what we call a asynchronus orbit. This is when the satelite rotates at its own speed around a planet. It won't orbit over your house anymore. It'll travel in a "track" across the earth. Your doomsday scenario of that laser tracking across the face of the earth is realised. To prevent this from happening you have to maintain the orbit by occasionaly firing thrusters on the satelite. Or literally give it a push, by going up in the space shuttle and doing it.

Last scenario is when the satelite goes slower then it should. It'll basically fall towards earth, and depending on its size could make a pretty nice hole somewhere. Nothing to worry about Alison. We have tons of satelites up there already.

good points, Albert, and not too often said, especially by the environmentalists proposing the 'environmentally friendly alternative.' I never knew the actual chemicals/processes that were so harmful, but I knew that the tradeoffs - at least for the time being - for switching to solar and wind electricity generation were really huge... but we have to start somewhere. Change happens in time; change not only in what's being used, what's available on the market, but also what those things are made of... if demand for less harmful (or energy-demanding to make) photo-cells and turbines increased, they'd find a way to make them so. And yeah, solar power from your typical photovoltaic cell isn't the be-all end-all, but it sure could work on the small-scale, covering rooves all across cities (yes, difficult for a central power company to own, but, hey, why not be anarchic about this conversion?), and yes, wind farms are nasty things for bird migration routes (which coincidentally often are where the wind blows the strongest), but again, in small-scale planning, it's not such a bad thing.

Or maybe we just need to change back to a time of small-scale hydro power (e.g. grist mills) and wind power, and passive solar heating... (or maybe our current lifestyle will force us into that lifestyle eventually)

or maybe we do need to go the other way to those monstrously high-tech things like Taylor'd mentioned. Maybe that is our solution. Question though: do those satellites remain fixed above one place on the Earth's surface? How does orbit work for them? I've been confused about that for a while. All I can picture is this huge laser/microwave scar-belt around the Earth reflecting the satellite's orbital pathway, and I don't think that's what's going to happen, is it?

I dunno, I just get ranty reading about things like the Cheviot coal mine, and then driving through the areas that are and will be decimated by that kind of industrial extraction.

I'm also scared shitless of sour gas wells - because the minute anything goes wrong, you're fucking dead. Interesting stuff... we can smell it at 10-100 ppb, and it's deadly (within minutes of exposure) at 750 ppm, but we lose our sense of smell for it at about 50-100 ppm... And that's what we're releasing from the ground all over the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies... not exactly smart if you ask me. (and the wells always seem to be on higher ground than the surroundings, which worries me even more as H2S (the poisonous component of sour gas) is heavier than air.) but then again, that's just me. They seem to operate it pretty safely, except for the continuously open 'security' gates, and the leaving of all doors into critical areas (with all the well-controlling machinery) wide open for animals (or terrorists) to enter if they were to so choose. though, quite frankly, there are a lot better things to sabotage than those that, when sabotaged, will kill anyone else in the aproximate vicinity.

anyway, that's it. I'll stop here. I think I'm just a bit freaked because I have to work near these wells all day, and the only thing guaranteeing my safety is the skill of the rig workers.

Well like I said eric, you'll always need assholes like me to work out "technical" issues.

interesting Al. very very interesting. i did not know those particular aspects of the manufacturing of solar pannels or windfarm blades.