China's Solar Array in Space Project

China is working on a solar array in space that will generate more energy in a year than all the earth's oil
Unlike my earth tied solar panels, generation will not be affected by night, clouds, etc. Power will be delivered to earth via microwaves.

A truly incredible, ambitious project; some are calling it an energy Manhatten Project.
This stuff scares me because I wonder if America has the taste to compete? Are we too short-term orientated?


If this ever comes to fruition it will be because the STOLE the technology as usual.
 
If this ever comes to fruition it will be because the STOLE the technology as usual.
Science and technoogy advancements and breakthroughs are the result of thinking out of the box, risk taking, investment, ambition and hard work. Ya gotta try.

FYI, China is the undisputed leader in solar energy and renewables technology. Pretending otherwise is hubris. IMO, tech R&D needs to have more importance arounf here.
 
China is working on a solar array in space that will generate more energy in a year than all the earth's oil
Unlike my earth tied solar panels, generation will not be affected by night, clouds, etc. Power will be delivered to earth via microwaves.

A truly incredible, ambitious project; some are calling it an energy Manhatten Project.
This stuff scares me because I wonder if America has the taste to compete? Are we too short-term orientated?


2 things.
This is literally the plot to James bond golden eye.
We haven't invented it yet so they can't steal it.
 
Science and technoogy advancements and breakthroughs are the result of thinking out of the box, risk taking, investment, ambition and hard work. Ya gotta try.

FYI, China is the undisputed leader in solar energy and renewables technology. Pretending otherwise is hubris. IMO, tech R&D needs to have more importance arounf here.
Yeah and who invented solar panels?
Turns out solar panels are easy to build when you have slave labor and little to no environmental regulations.
 
Science and technoogy advancements and breakthroughs are the result of thinking out of the box, risk taking, investment, ambition and hard work. Ya gotta try.
Or, partnering with Western companies and ripping off their IP, which is how a lot of this knowledge was "learned".
FYI, China is the undisputed leader in solar energy and renewables technology. Pretending otherwise is hubris. IMO, tech R&D needs to have more importance arounf here.
I mean, solar pv as a technology has been around for over a 100 years. Yes, China leveraged their lack of environmental regulations, slave labour workforce and command and control government system to undercut everybody else and dominate the manufacturing aspect of it. I don't think that should be panned as enviable, but it does underscore the West's willingness to undermine its own existence for the sake of profits, which is how we've effectively destroyed ourselves with outsourcing, something China has, quite understandably, taken advantage of.

They dominate the supply of batteries for the same reasons.

They have the world's largest hydro projects also because they can. It's not like they need an EA, or that something like the presence of bank swallows can hold-up an energy project on an existing site for a decade.
 
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Yeah and who invented solar panels?
Turns out solar panels are easy to build when you have slave labor and little to no environmental regulations.
Sure, but that's another topic. China is the undisputed leader in solar energy and renewables.
I'm not big on excuses, I would like to see action. Do we have the will?

Bottom line is, results matter.
 
Plus, solar after a hurricane…

View attachment 322273
That's what happens when they put them on ground mounts. Wind blows against the up tilted side, gets underneath the panels and rips them apart.
Put them on a roof top on standard racking and wind can't really get up underneath them.
Also using 4mm glass extreme weather panels helps too.
Put 4mm panels on a roof top and they'll laugh at cat4 hurricanes.
 
Sure, but that's another topic. China is the undisputed leader in solar energy and renewables.
I'm not big on excuses, I would like to see action. Do we have the will?
Nope and they can have it. Everywhere that has wind and solar power heavy power grid have far more expensive power.
I'll take cheap natural gas, coal with some wind power.
 
Or, partnering with Western companies and ripping off their IP, which is how a lot of this knowledge was "learned".

I mean, solar pv as a technology has been around for over a 100 years. Yes, China leveraged their lack of environmental regulations, slave labour workforce and command and control government system to undercut everybody else and dominate the manufacturing aspect of it. I don't think that should be panned as enviable, but it does underscore the West's willingness to undermine its own existence for the sake of profits, which is how we've effectively destroyed ourself with outsourcing, something China has, quite understandably, taken advantage of.

They dominate the supply of batteries for the same reasons.

They have the world's largest hydro projects also because they can. It's not like they need an EA, or that something like the presence of bank swallows can hold-up an energy project on an existing site for a decade.
I am certainly no fan of stealing IP. Heck, Silicon Valley spends tons protecting IP as I'm sure you know.
But it's real, so we deal with it but stop using it as an excuse. It's a cost of doing business.

My point is, R&D seems to be less important nowadays due to short term thinking and profits. Where does this lead us?
 
I am certainly no fan of stealing IP. Heck, Silicon Valley spends tons protecting IP as I'm sure you know.
But it's real, so we deal with it but stop using it as an excuse. It's a cost of doing business.
Well, we haven't dealt with it, we participated in it in many instances because it seems that the calculus on the theft of the IP relative to the boost to the shareholders yielded favorable results. It's not like Cisco didn't think that IOS would get cloned for example, or that Westinghouse or EDF weren't going to have their reactor technologies used in the production of a domestic design. The decision was made to partner regardless because of the money involved.
My point is, R&D seems to be less important nowadays due to short term thinking and profits. Where does this lead us?
I'd argue the opposite. I see lots of innovation and R&D, but I don't see much of us doing anything with it. How many SMR companies have emerged from the ether in the West? Yet how many of them are actually building anything? Ideas are everywhere, but there's zero execution because of risk, real or perceived, China doesn't have that problem.

The Chinese were recently panned as innovating a reactor design that the US invented and manufactured 60 years ago. Good on them for trying it, because God forbid we support that sort of process here in the West. We've red tape'd, regulated and de-risked ourselves into a culture that's importing friggin' bridges at this point.
 
Sure, but that's another topic. China is the undisputed leader in solar energy and renewables.
I'm not big on excuses, I would like to see action. Do we have the will?

Bottom line is, results matter.

Bottom line that is you're looking at results that look good to you and ignore everything else, like China's total disregard to the environment and the health and lives of their own people.
You don't see the rare earth mines in Africa, you don't see Chinese cities almost perpetually covered in smog. Are these the kinds of results you really want?
 
Bottom line that is you're looking at results that look good to you and ignore everything else, like China's total disregard to the environment and the health and lives of their own people.
You don't see the rare earth mines in Africa, you don't see Chinese cities almost perpetually covered in smog. Are these the kinds of results you really want?
I assure you that is not true.
 
I'd argue the opposite. I see lots of innovation and R&D, but I don't see much of us doing anything with it. How many SMR companies have emerged from the ether in the West? Yet how many of them are actually building anything? Ideas are everywhere, but there's zero execution because of risk, real or perceived, China doesn't have that problem.

The Chinese were recently panned as innovating a reactor design that the US invented and manufactured 60 years ago. Good on them for trying it, because God forbid we support that sort of process here in the West. We've red tape'd, regulated and de-risked ourselves into a culture that's importing friggin' bridges at this point.
Oh we deal with it, that's why I said it was a cost of doing business. NDAs and court lawsuits are huge around here. Corporate lawyers for the win! Now, how effectively we deal with it is another thing.

I hope you are right, but I've seen less and less investment in large scale R&D. As you know, I regularly attend local Science lectures. Questions often surround funding; it has become like pulling teeth. Again, I would like to be wrong.

I do see investment results. My favorite case in point is the Chips and Science of 2022. The hurdles have been high and many were unexpected, but progress none the less. The act is directly aimed at competing with China
 
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Science and technoogy advancements and breakthroughs are the result of thinking out of the box, risk taking, investment, ambition and hard work. Ya gotta try.

FYI, China is the undisputed leader in solar energy and renewables technology. Pretending otherwise is hubris. IMO, tech R&D needs to have more importance arounf here.
China steals intellectual property. ignores patents, demands that companies share their technology in order to manufacture and sell there, manipulates their currency and uses slave labor. On top of that they didn't cooperate with efforts to identify the source and cause of COVID. I try to buy as little Chinese products as possible but it's hard to do when so many companies are selling everything China makes.
I don't understand why the 'protest people' aren't protesting outside China's embassies due to their 'human rights' violations. I guess they wouldn't get paid to do that.
 
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China steals intellectual property. ignores patents, demands that companies share their technology in order to manufacture and sell there, manipulates their currency and uses slave labor. On top of that they didn't cooperate with efforts to identify the source and cause of COVID. I try to buy as little Chinese products as possible but it's hard to do when so many companies are selling everything China makes. I don't understand why some of the 'protest people' aren't protesting at Chinese embassies with China's human rights violations.I guess they wouldn't get paid to do that.
 
Oh we deal with it, that's why I said it was a cost of doing business. NDAs and court lawsuits are huge around here. Corporate lawyers for the win! Now, how effectively we deal with it is another thing.

I hope you are right, but I've seen less and less investment in large scale R&D. As you know, I regularly attend local Science lectures. Questions often surround funding; it has become like pulling teeth. Again, I would like to be wrong.

I do see investment results. My favorite case in point is the Chips and Science of 2022. The hurdles have been high and many were unexpected, but progress none the less. The act is directly aimed at competing with China
I think you and I may have different definitions of "dealing" with it, lol.

And yes, funding is a big problem, yet we seem to have infinite wells of money for social justice causes and government largess 🤷‍♂️
 
I think you and I may have different definitions of "dealing" with it, lol.

And yes, funding is a big problem, yet we seem to have infinite wells of money for social justice causes and government largess 🤷‍♂️
Unless we invest in the future, we are giving the future away. That's the real cost. Future generations may wonder, "What was their problem?"
Just my 2 cents.
 
Then what do you mean by "I'm not big on excuses, I would like to see action. Do we have the will?"
We cannot do what China is doing because we follow actual laws. We simply cannot comete at their level of environmental abuse and IP theft.
I mean the China problems are a cost of doing business. Otherwise they win, right? And let me add, when many billion$ of dollars are at stake, there are thieves everywhere. That's what I mean. Ultimately, the only thing that matters is results. It takes what it takes. There is no fair...

And let's just say I am very familiar with IP protection. I was an insider at a critical Silicon Valley company for over 20 years. I was told, in no uncertain terms, that if certain information I dealt with got out, I would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. It was no joke.

High Tech can be a dirty business, but I learned a lot. Some of the very best were truly men of honor; they were my heroes. I wanted to be like them, not like some of the others.
 
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