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Re: RETRO MIRROR SCHEMES
- To: KellySt@aol.com, kgstar@most.magec.com, stevev@efn.org, jim@bogie2.bio.purdue.edu, zkulpa@zmit1.ippt.gov.pl, hous0042@maroon.tc.umn.edu, rddesign@wolfenet.com, David@InterWorld.com, lparker@destin.gulfnet.com, bmansur@oc.edu
- Subject: Re: RETRO MIRROR SCHEMES
- From: T.L.G.vanderLinden@student.utwente.nl (Timothy van der Linden)
- Date: Fri, 08 Mar 1996 18:47:59 +0100
>Since I'm we're talking about system efficiencies. I wonder if it would be
>better to skip masers and use visible light reflecting sails. LISTEN UP.
> THIS IS IMPORTANT. We know that our masers waste 90% of their power just
>to transmit (right?). If we were using solar panels like on the Hubble,
>then that is another 90% lost. Already our 1E18 W needed to accelerate the
>Asimov is up to 1E20. This gets worse as we transmit across interstellar
>distances through refocusing array's and retro-mirrors before ever getting
>to the Asimov which will have a none too pretty reflective sail itself.
> This could easily put our starting power bill at 1E21.
>
>IDEA! Why not skip converting the sunlight and just gather it directly into
>lasers using these huge mirror apparatuses that I'm proposing. The arrays
>aroundSol would need to be heavy to keep from getting blown away, but that's
>okay.
How would you transfer the solar energy to nice laser beams? I haven't the
faintest idea how that could be done directly.
Tim