Space-based Earth Power!

Colonel’s Blog, Earthdate 5 June 2023…

Hey Y’all!

Good morning and happy Monday from Air2Ground Farms! We’re still on a roll of hot weather with no rain. The roads are dusty and the grass that spends most of the day in the sun is turning brown. The grass that is shaded, especially in the late afternoon, is still ok. The animals are all doing well. We moved the rams down the hill into most of the paddock the birds have been in. We put a net across separating the paddock into 2 and the rams are enjoying the tall green grass. We moved the sheep back from across the creek and gave them a portion of our large bottom pasture. They too are enjoying the grass and the shade provided by a stand of woods included in their paddock. The lambs are doing very well and it appears there is only 1 ewe remaining to lamb. We’ve been thinking she is close for over a week so it shouldn’t be long now. The ducks still aren’t in a routine with laying their eggs. We are getting 4-5 a day instead of the 20-24 we were getting. We think they will get it together soon and be back to producing like normal. That said, as the weather gets hotter, all of the birds will probably slow down production. The dairy cows are doing very well also. Yesterday morning, we got 4 gallons of milk. We are planning to breed them soon so they will be calving next spring. We were talking this morning and think we will put our bull in with them in about 3 weeks. That should put them calving next March/April timeframe. As we were talking, Shelley came up with a brilliant idea. We will dry them off in December so that we aren’t fighting the milking machine through the coldest days of the year. That will put them back in milk in the spring when the weather warms up. The pics today are the beef chicks, growing like crazy, and the bottle lambs, also growing. The 2001 F-350 is at it again. This time, it’s the rear axle seal on the driver’s side leaking gear oil out of the axle, effectively draining the differential. So, it’s in the barn on a jack for a bit while we get all of the parts and tools needed to change it out. We’re going to change both sides while we’re at it since the axle will be apart anyway. This evening, Shelley and Makaylah are flying to Florida to spend a few days with family and will return Friday evening. It will just be Rebekah and me with the farm for a few days and she works in town from 0600-1500 so I’ll have the farm to myself for most of the days. We’ve decided slow and steady will be the way to go.

Today I would like to provide an update on a technology experiment I’ve been tracking for a few years regarding collecting solar energy in space and then transmitting that energy to the ground. The update is from Caltech on 1 June 2023, https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/in-a-first-caltechs-space-solar-power-demonstrator-wirelessly-transmits-power-in-space . The idea of transmitting solar power to earth from space isn’t new. In 2008, I sponsored Buzz Aldrin for a return trip to Korea to honor a group of Korean War fighter pilots and he spoke about it quite often during his trip. One major problem with the idea is the power loss as the energy passes through the atmosphere. A team of Caltech researchers have figured out a way to mitigate that issue, providing the potential for a viable technology. The novel thing they are doing is converting the collected solar energy into electricity while still in space instead of just reflecting solar energy to the earth. According to Caltech, “Space solar power provides a way to tap into the practically unlimited supply of solar energy in outer space, where the energy is constantly available without being subjected to the cycles of day and night, seasons, and cloud cover—potentially yielding eight times more power than solar panels at any location on Earth's surface. When fully realized, SSPP will deploy a constellation of modular spacecraft that collect sunlight, transform it into electricity, then convert it to microwaves that will be transmitted wirelessly over long distances to wherever it is needed—including locations that currently have no access to reliable power.” They launched an experiment in January 2023 and have since used it to send power in space and to receivers at Caltech. It is still a very new tech experiment with lots of things to work out but the potential here is superb and I think this is one to keep an eye on.

Local Farm Report for 3 & 4 June 2023:

Harvest:

53 Chicken eggs

7 Duck eggs

2 Goose eggs

11 Gallons of milk

Cheers!

Psycho & Shelley