Could Solar Satellites Be the Key to Infinite Energy?

[PamW]

5. We have a WINNER!!!

Nick79,

You are EXACTLY CORRECT!!

A satellite in low Earth orbit; like where the Space Shuttle orbited will have an orbital period of about 90 minutes. Therefore, the location on the surface directly below a low Earth orbit satellite will be traveling at 17,000 mph.
You would have to have a receiver traveling at that speed.

The only way a solar satellite makes any sense at all is to put it into geosynchronous orbit like we do with the communication satellites. That means sending them some 24,000 miles out. Those high orbits are REALLY expensive. It's like tens of thousands of dollars a pound for geosync orbits.

Image a pound of solar collector that will cost you tens of thousands to orbit. It doesn't take much in the way of solar cells to give a pound. All the electricity you can get will be dictated by the area of that cell. It would be a pretty trivial amount of power for that type of expense.

PamW