Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site mordor.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!epsilon!zeta!sabre!bellcore!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!think!harvard!seismo!ut-sally!mordor!@S1-A.ARPA,@MIT-MC.ARPA:DIETZ@RUTGERS.ARPA From: @S1-A.ARPA,@MIT-MC.ARPA:DIETZ@RUTGERS.ARPA Newsgroups: net.space Subject: Re: solar wind power Message-ID: <2555@mordor.UUCP> Date: Mon, 8-Jul-85 12:23:54 EDT Article-I.D.: mordor.2555 Posted: Mon Jul 8 12:23:54 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 12-Jul-85 00:25:52 EDT Sender: daemon@mordor.UUCP Lines: 22 From: DIETZ@RUTGERS.ARPA Looking in the encyclopedia britanica, I get a power level of from .1 to 1 milliwatt per meter^2 (1 to 10 protons per cm^3 at ~500 km/sec), or roughly 10^-7 to 10^-6 x the intensity of sunlight. Generating magnetic fields over sufficiently large areas to make this practical seems unlikely, unless the Earth's field is used. The Earth's field may be used as follows: because the solar wind is so highly conductive, it effectively excludes the earth's magnetic field. What happens is the boundary layer of the plasma has a current ciculating so as to neutralize the field at larger distances. We can tap this current by stretching a cable from one side of the field to the other behind the earth. Current is collected at the ends through some sort of plasma and/or electron guns (no extensive wire mesh is needed). Even at 10^-7 x sunlight intensity this is still ~5 terawatts. This scheme may significantly modify the earth's magnetosphere. If so, pulsed operation may dump the Van Allen belts, reducing radiation hazards in intermediate orbits. -------