Safety: Beams, Birds, Aircraft and Eyes
Is power beamed from orbit safe, and what would regulators require?
Chapter summary
microwave SBSP designs can be made safe by keeping beam intensity low and making beams fail-safe; laser systems need stricter controls.
Key takeaways
- 1
The 1979 reference design limited peak intensity at the rectenna centre to about 230 W/m², roughly a quarter of peak sunlight, falling to about 10 W/m² (1 mW/cm²) at the edge, a level used in public exposure guidance at 2.45 GHz.
- 2
Retrodirective control means the beam defocuses if the ground pilot signal stops, so it cannot be aimed elsewhere.
- 3
Aircraft and birds crossing the beam receive low doses for seconds.
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