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From: eder@ssc-vax.UUCP (Dani Eder)
Newsgroups: net.followup,net.politics
Subject: Re: alternate, hopefully safe, energy sources
Message-ID: <43@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 9-Aug-84 15:22:51 EDT
Article-I.D.: ssc-vax.43
Posted: Thu Aug  9 15:22:51 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 11-Aug-84 00:47:25 EDT
References: <1494@proper.UUCP>
Organization: Boeing Aerospace, Seattle
Lines: 41

[9 August 1984]

     With respect to being cooked by microwaves beamed down from a
Solar Power Satellite:

     I am presently working on a study to design a Solar Power
Satellite made from Lunar materials.  The study is funded by the
Space Studies Institute in Princeton, NJ.  My full time job is at
Boeing, with the group that did the original SPS studies in 1979-80
(Rockwell was doing parallel work at the same time).

     We set the beam power at the center of the beam to 300 watts/
square meter.  This is 30% of noontime Arizona sun.  This was
chosen intentionally to prevent people and animals from getting
cooked.  The size of the beam is determined by how large the
transmitter in space is.  The larger the transmitter, the smaller
the beam.  The beam normally is made as small as possible for
a given transmitter, because the receiver on the ground is fairly
expensive, and you want it to be as small as possible to keep costs down.

     Because of this, the beam cannot be made any smaller, thus the
intensity cannot be made any higher.  Should a bird fly into the
beam, it would feel very hot (in the day) , or just warm (at night).
If it felt uncomfortable, presumably it would fly away.  A person
walking into the center of the receiver at high noon on a clear day,
and who climbed upon top of one of the receiving antennas would
probably pass out from the combined heat of sun and microwaves.

     Ignoring the fact that doing this makes as much sense as climbing
into the burner of a coal-fired plant while it is running, the individual
would have to first climb a fence, then hike at least two miles to
the center of the beam.  When he or she climbed on top of the receiver,
the power from that unit would stop, signaling a unit failure to the
control room.  They would send out a crew to fix it, and find the looney.

     A commercial airliner has a conducting surface for lightning
protection.  This also serves to bounce radar off, and would bounce
microwaves off just as well.  The folks inside would not be affected.

Dani Eder / Boeing Aerospace Company / ssc-vax!eder