{"id":601,"date":"2005-10-21T22:32:07","date_gmt":"2005-10-22T02:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/dbnews\/2005\/10\/21\/science-fiction-science-fact\/"},"modified":"2005-10-21T22:32:07","modified_gmt":"2005-10-22T02:32:07","slug":"science-fiction-science-fact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/2005\/10\/21\/science-fiction-science-fact\/","title":{"rendered":"Science Fiction : Science Fact"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n
\n

Science Fiction: Moon Collector, Broadcast
\n Power, Space Elevators<\/strong><\/p>\n

In November 2003, David Criswell, director
\n of the Institute for Space Systems Operations at the University of Houston,
\n testified before the Senate Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on science,
\n technology and space to pitch a Lunar Solar Power system. LSP would use
\n colossal solar arrays on the surface of the moon that would beam microwave
\n energy down to Earth.<\/p>\n

Criswell’s concept is massive in scale: It would involve building 20,000
\n to 30,000 reception stations on Earth to accept the power beams and convert
\n them into electricity that could be distributed to the population (The
\n solar panels would be constructed on the moon with raw materials in the
\n soil in "basically a glass-making process," he said).<\/p>\n

fom Wired<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Science Fact: Space Broadband, 88%
\n Global Coverage, Plasma Propusion, Solar Sails<\/strong><\/p>\n

LONDON — Telecom giant Inmarsat
\n is weeks away from launching the second in a series of two super-satellites
\n — designed to be among the most powerful commercial communications
\n spacecraft in orbit — that will beam broadband data and voice services
\n to almost any location on the planet.<\/p>\n

Instead of cruising for a Starbucks, BGAN subscribers can
\n hit the road with a portable terminal as small as their laptop computer
\n and surf the web — or connect with the office LAN — at broadband
\n speeds of up to 492 Kbps.<\/p>\n

"The network will cover 88 percent of the globe’s landmass," said Chris
\nMcLaughlin,
\nvice president of corporate communications for Inmarsat in London.<\/p>\n

The satellite is equipped with a plasma propulsion
\n subsystem and chemical thrusters for in-orbit adjustments and station
\n keeping.<\/p>\n

The satellite will harvest power from the sun by deploying massive
\n solar panels that almost span the width of a football field. The panels
\n will also act as solar sails, using the pressure of particles from
\n the sun to provide additional propulsion in orbit.<\/p>\n

also from Wired<\/a><\/p>\n

Anything the human mind can envision, it can create.  The
\n challenge is expanding what we can envision.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Science Fiction: Moon Collector, Broadcast Power, Space Elevators In November 2003, David Criswell, director of the Institute for Space Systems Operations at the University of Houston, testified before the Senate Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on science, technology and space to pitch … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}