Can you transmit electricity by satellite?

Question

I mean, if someone had a cellphone, could it be always on and never need a charge, just run off of electricity from satellite?

Answer 1

The kinds of power levels that are transmitted via satellite are in the micro-Watt range by the time they reach you on the ground -- 1 millionth of what you need for your cell phone.

There have been plans (wild ideas more-like) to put power generating satellites in orbit with large solar arrays and transmit that power back to earth. But, the receiving stations are as large as many farms put together (many square miles), just to get a few hundred kiloWatts of power.

.

Answer 2

There have been plans to put satellites in orbit that gather solar energy and transmit it to the ground in the form of a microwave beam. The ground station would then use this probably to heat water and drive steam turbines. The problem is that in order to get any useful energy out of this the microwave beam is going to have to be in the megawatt range and if the beam were to drift off the target it would fry anything it contacts. I'm not sure I like this idea since they can't even get the shuttle off the ground without chunks of it falling off.

Answer 3

I've been tinkering with an idea like that, only for household use (to make plugs obsolete), for the last nine years (since I was a HS freshman). Even discussed it theoretically with an EE friend of mine (I'm a ME). The trouble would probably be the radiation effects. You'd have to crank up the juice in order to get that kind of distance out of a transformer style power source. But up in space, that probably wouldnt be as much of a problem, just "daisy-chain" it from satellite to satellite.

Answer 4

satellites transmit a signal that is in some kind of wave form, could be radio or micro. what u want would zap people or kill if there is enough amps. a better idea is a solar charger on a cell phone just need UV rays to charge the battery.

Answer 5

It is very low efficiency. As the result, the signal is very low.

Answer 6

.....?????????