Interplanetary electron gun
How feasible would it be to use a huge electron gun to pump electrons from a solar array positioned close to the Sun back to Earth or Mars?
My idea is to create a eletrical circuit by means of using electrons discharged from a huge solar array positioned very close to the Sun. Each side would have a electron gun and a electron deceleration/capture plate, forming a closed circuit.
Near the Sun, the electron gun/electron capture plate would be powered by a solar array capturing terawatts of energy. Near Earth another set of a gun and a capture device would close the circuit. The energy would be transformed in space using huge transformers and sent down to earth via a kind of space elevator as a very high voltage link. Same on Mars, Earth's Moon etc.
How feasible would be that?
--- Edit ---
How does the electron gets accelerated ? For free ? Or do you spend energy into the speed at wich the electron exits the gun ? If you launch the electron at say 0.5C and it returns at 0.1C then somehow energy was used at the near-earth station and generated at the near-sun station. But if i do so continually, the plates will charge up to a point where i cant add more electrons/remove electrons from the guns thermionic emitter. So i do it in pulses of electrons. Charge up the near-sun station receiving plate positively and the guns emitter negatively, using the solar panels output, multiplied by a transformer (like a big camera flash), bang the electrons free they fly to earth. Near-earth plate becomes charged negatively up to a point thats harder and harder to add electrons. Discharge the plate into the gun via a transformer, using a big inverter. Discharge the near-earth gun back to the sun, where the positively charged near sun plate will become more and more neutral. I know thats something still wrong, but i cant see where.
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/11241. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
0 comment threads