Hi All

A news bite of especial relevance to SM and his mass power transmission endeavours...

http://optics.org/articles/ole/9/7/2/1

...seems the DoD is pushing hard to get solid-state lasers to ~ 80% efficiencies - or at least the diode lasers that pump them. Cooling issues result in a massive mass penalty for any kind of solid-state mobile laser weapon system. Hence DoD working hard to get the diode efficiency up towards 80% - currently they're hitting 65%.

If it pays off then SM's SPS system can use lasers with a number of benefits resulting. And Space Elevators and SPS in general will be bolstered in practicality too...

Adam