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throwaway8152306/16/20253 repliesview on HN

Wow that's a long way from the proposals for sending GW of microwave power from satellites.


Replies

aurizon06/16/2025

Those sat to ground power sources use gallium arsenide switched FETs = synchronous rectification, avoiding the voltage drop of diodes has been tested on a small scale, the 10GW orbital 35% efficient solar arrays, maybe next week... Solar boilers, end to end, are more efficient than solar cells, but mechanical complexity(leaks, corrosion, worker avarice) made one US plan in the South West non viable. As we sit silicon-perovskite tandem solar cells will top out around 42-45% - unless Schockley is end runned? Ternary -??. A good lecture = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft0VJX0_Td0&t=2s&ab_channel=...

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pfdietz06/16/2025

Laser power beaming from space could be useful at lower power levels than that, for example for powering aircraft.

conradev06/16/2025

But pretty close to powering drones from ground stations