Right, so it’s been some time since I’ve seriously studied physics, but I’m fairly sure that microwave radiation is soaked readily by water/water vapour, which is why we have microwave ovens. So it would seem a lot of this projected energy would just be wasted on heating the atmosphere between the station and ground receiver. Do you happen to have links to the studies, because surely they had to address the issue?
Microwaves most likely. Both NASA and ESA have done feasibility studies on similar ideas.
Right, so it’s been some time since I’ve seriously studied physics, but I’m fairly sure that microwave radiation is soaked readily by water/water vapour, which is why we have microwave ovens. So it would seem a lot of this projected energy would just be wasted on heating the atmosphere between the station and ground receiver. Do you happen to have links to the studies, because surely they had to address the issue?
Here’s a NASA feasibility study https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19890059163
Danke schön