Speaking of a cross between Fuku and towering inferno, with a few thousand light sabers thrown-in … think about using all those mirrors as a renewable propellant …
That’s right, propellant. You don’t really think that electricity was the only goal here, do you? Maybe there was something else going on behind the scenes and you-know-who will arrive to save the day. Can you say “space-x”. He is not far away. Solar pumped lasers are already on the horizon, and from there the next step would be to coat the mirror array with an optical material to consolidate the broad emission spectrum and then to focus the reflected superradiant light onto a point overhead in space where a vehicle, specially designed to use this light as a PLT (photonic laser thruster) is waiting for it… and there you have it… tenfold reduction in the cost of putting tonnage into low orbit. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4593010/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photonic_laser_thruster There are losses, but who cares when the advantage of having a few hundred megawatts of focused photons available for days and days on end (for accelerating objects to low earth orbit cheaply) is the bottom line. Once into low orbit, mylar solar mirrors deploy which can use the same converter to get to high orbit. It is a minor problem is to control the relative speed to maintain the craft is roughly overhead relative position to the mirrors until the first acceleration stage is complete. But all of this is doable… on paper. It seem no more complicated than landing a rocket in reverse, on a barge. Look for Elon to put in a bid for Ivanpah… but not necessarily for the electrical power… J From: ChemE Stewart You guys are ignoring all of the mechanical and structural challenges of pointing 350,000, 30 foot mirrors at the ground using worm gears and stepper motors that have just lost power due to a storm and/or lightning strike. No motor power, no movement. The fuel source (the sun) keeps moving up and then down towards the west, so the focal point(s) of all of that incident power is constantly changing. It is not like a typical boiler where the flame safety system can cut the source of fuel. It is more like a cross between fukushima and the towering inferno :)
