[LMB] (chat) new essay

[H R Stockert]

At 07:48 PM 10/27/2007, you wrote:
>If we're getting into the soletta, _that_ project is itself 
>impossible. The mirrors can't reflect more energy than they receive 
>from Komarr's sun. If the soletta reflects all its energy onto a 
>planetary "footprint" with the same area as the mirrors*, that 
>footprint _and nowhere else_ will get full one-sun insolation from 
>the soletta in addition to whatever it gets directly from the sun. 
>If the reflection is spread out to cover the whole visible 
>(almost-)hemisphere, or indeed any significant fraction of the 
>planet's surface, it will fade to insignificance. I'm afraid Her 
>Ladyship just made a boo-boo here, and I can't see any reasonable 
>way to fix it.
>
>* ignoring issues of angle of incidence, which would make the 
>reflected insolation even weaker
>
>Mark Mandel


There is also the problem of thermal bloom...........heating the 
atmosphere the radiation penetrates in the footprint.  Which will not 
only absorb heat, but will widen the footprint and "smudge" it 
somewhat.  Reducing the overall effectiveness of the transmission.



___________________________


"If you stand at the North Pole, every direction is South, except 
up.  Take a rocket."  - F.O.R.P.

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