Day 3 of 30 in 2006
day 3 of 30 jedcThe porthole tunneling through the 3 foot thick shell of ice shielding the small habitat in GEO, was unwaveringly centered on the disk of the Earth far below, as all other directions were at risk of radiation coming in. Munching a sandwich, Catalie stared at the watery planet below thoughtfully. "Why did they say to stop lifting ice for shielding here?" she asked Improy. He paused from getting into the exterior access worksuit, grumped that he did not believe Ownma Corporation really wanted this project to succeed. The corporation's long time big holdings were in the conventional rocket launch technology aerospace technologies, that is where they made their big money. "Every time we have had a big success here, Ownma management makes a big show of handing out bonuses to its regular launch system personnel, and pointedly passes us up. They make clear to everybody, that reward only goes to the staid conventional folk, no matter that we here have done almost miracles to keep the project going." He finished assembling the worksuit around himself, went into the airlock, and soon was out in the environment of deep black and brilliantly bright complex structures.
Well, today was not a miracle day for achievements per management far below; but to the visionaries of the 1960's, today would have been a dream come true. He inspected the microwave power input connector tightness with the torque wrench, then moved over to the hinge pont of the 200 meter long truss, and activated the motor that began the slow deployment of the immense diameter, but low mass, parabolic antenna. When it was extended out straight, he sent the signal to switch to active gimbal positioning, so that it was essentially decoupled from the motions of the truss arm.
Back in the habitat, he found Catalie having an internet video chat with their 7 year old daughter, Idealiana, who was down on the floating island. We will be back home with you in just a few days from now, don't worry, she soothed her child. Improy floated over to the power console, and saw that the oscillations in the big antenna out there had dropped to an acceptable amplitude, so he activated a video link to the rectenna receiver site in the southern California desert near the Salton Sea. "Coming at ya" he said and activated the relay which switched half of the solar panel electric power output to the microwave generators driving the antenna he had just deployed. "Got it!" came back the reply from the ground rectenna site. "Three megawatts, we are now dumping into the California power grid!" continued the report. It had been easier to use the power grid as the initial load, rather than a huge bank of resistors for the brief test, so right from the first, they were making money. Not much money, true, but at the current cost of basic energy of a half dollar per kilowatt hour, every little bit would help. And this was very clean energy.
Approaching the little artificial island was one of Ownma Corporation's finest executive yachts, on time for the expected test of solar-derived electrical power input to the commercial power grid. Relaxing in the immense lounge of the yacht, Stebler pondered the potential effects if the test succeeded. He oversaw the company's vast holdings of coal-fired electrical power plants, as well as the fuel suppliers for the major chemically powered space launch facilities. The cost of their operations had been going up steadily with the drop in coal and fuel resources that were economically recoverable, and the CO2 production and particulate pollution control costs were driving up expenses to a level where the major stockholders were registering complaints about him. Stebler had the responsibility or maintaining everything in steady balance, consistency of results was paramount. And his competancy was like the Rock of Gibralter.
Theo, the brilliant genius who locked the workings of the Ownma Corporation's vast empire into a sound theoretical basis, joined Stebler in the lounge, receiving a refreshing drink as he sank down in another of the plush chairs. Without preamble he said "If Solar Power Satellites do become reality, they will disrupt the financial foundations of the Company. Large amounts of very clean energy derived directly from the Sun's energy as received in space high above the earth, and beam-able to customer nations all over the planet, will cause our customer base to shift to that source of energy, abandoning us."
Stebler stared at him for only a few seconds, then spoke with his deep commanding voice "That would de-stabilize everything. It would be a terrible thing. Such disruption would reverberate throughout the world, causing incalculable damage to our corporate foundations. It must not be allowed to happen." A pause, then "This is our own project, why did we start this in the first place?"
Theo shifted uneasily in the plush chair, torn by conflicting data, memories of decisions long ago, finally speaking. "In the year 2000, despite our long suppression, a paper got published anyway. It outlined a way to bypass the requirement of superstrength tether material for building a transportation structure linking ground to high earth orbit, that would enable cheap construction of Solar Power Satellites and other huge facilities for utilizing space resources thus attainable, perhaps even a vast space based commercial empire.
"As long as people believed there was no way to build a Space Elevator, our corporate economic vista remained solid into almost forever, we would become the ultimately powerful, no one could challenge us. The world would become ours, no question. Civilization depends on two things: abundant energy and abundant knowledge. We focused on the energy aspect. without plenty of easy energy, knowledge would become increasingly uninfluential, ceding control to those who controlled energy.
"So we chose to revive the original anchored tether space elevator concept. Carbon nanotube technology looked like it might result in extreme strength to mass ratio material eventually, so it would seem plausible to put money out there to get people focused on that kind of physical space access structure. And the key result would be that any interest in the concept of building a lifting structure between ground and GEO by using kinetic energy stored circulating centrifugally within a structure, to become forgotten, even considered a rival. And it worked. The old guy who was trying to get public awareness of that concept faded away, and given a few extra pushes into obscurity along the way by our staff's guidance.
"But we were stuck with having to show progress in making an anchored tether space technology work. There were plenty of ways for it to fail, yet there were a few determined people who did not comprehend the reality that it must eventually fail, so as to maintain the world energy supply status quo upon which all rests."
Stebler also had a refreshing drink as he listened to this, reclining in the sumptuous chair. Silence passed, minutes. "This I have known from the beginning. What I need to know is why hasn't the project failed already? It is a wacky idea, space elevators and all. I don't believe all this is happening. But stability will be restored, all will become back to normal. Have no doubt."
On the little floating island, little Idealiana chatting with her Mom so far above in GEO, also watched as the huge beautiful yacht grew close, then the biggest helicopter she had ever seen landed on the deck of the island. A pair of men got out of the flying machine, spoke briefly with a greeting congregation, then headed straight for her. She returned her attention to the image of her mom on the internet video connection, chatting a bit less happily.
Up in the GEO habitat, Catalie listened while Idealiana said someone wanted the internet chat connection with the GEO station; then Catalie saw the powerful figure of a wealthy dressed man go onscreen. She quickly called Improy over to continue the link chat. Improy cheerfully started the conversation by saying they were now making $1,500 dollars an hour off the energy they were supplying to California. The heavy commando voice replied back "This project has been costing us $3,000 a day, and stockholders want their money and now. Switch the remainder of the solar panel output power over to the power beam, and return to the ground. Your job is over" and the screen went blank.
Improy and Calalie stared at each other a moment, then he said "See what I mean, they reward success with rebuke. Makes no business sense. We are now set to go for a full sized Satellite Solar Power Station construction here to make the big money delivering the finest electrical power around the world, and instead he wants to chop it right here."
Improy went back to the link to the rectenna site, and said "Here comes $3,000 dollars an hour at ya, enjoy, 'cause that is all you will get from us. The Big Boys have spoken." He shut down life support and the construction engines, switched all the solar power except enough to power the ribbon pulley drum for the vehicle's return, over to the big dish antenna out there. They hopped into the lift's captive ribbon capsule, and with a longing look back inside the station they had created so lovingly with daring courage, sealed the hatch and down they dropped toward the watery blue ball down far below in the vast night.
posted by Unknown @ 2:03 PM
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