
Originally Posted by
Ximlab
And wouldn't that be a great economy of scale and a great source of extra power? Especially including the possibility of 24/7 solar power, with probably much less waste in outer space.
Well, given our current problem with global warming, sending another few gigawatts of solar radiation Earthwards probably isn't such a good idea. However, for illumination purposes it might make sense; that takes far less radiation (hence less heating) and will reduce our need for lighting power. From Wikipedia:
==============
Another advanced space concept proposal is the notion of Space Reflectors which reflect sunlight on to small spots on the night side of the Earth to provide night time illumination. An early proponent of this concept was Dr.
Krafft Arnold Ehricke, who wrote about systems called "Lunetta", "Soletta", "Biosoletta", "Powersoletta".
A preliminary series of experiments called
Znamya ("Banner") was performed by Russia, using
solar sail prototypes that had been repurposed as mirrors. Znamya-1 was a ground test. Znamya-2 was launched aboard the
Progress M-15 resupply mission to the
Mir space station on 27 October 1992. After undocked from Mir, the Progress deployed the reflector.This mission was successful in that the mirror deployed, although it did not illuminate the Earth. The next flight Znamya-2.5 failed. Znamya-3 never flew.
=============
Would reaching an orbital speed close to the sun require too much power? Excessive heat issue? Large size mirror (especially curved ones to focus power toward earth) too expensive?
No need; there's still plenty of sunlight in Earth orbit.