Ariel Ekblaw

speaker

1,219 appearances 5 recordings 4 series first heard May 2025 last heard 26 Jun

Ariel Ekblaw’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 3 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 1.

Appearances

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StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson · The Future of Space Stations with Ariel Ekblaw · 29 May 2026 podcast

I think AI data centers has captured a lot of people's attention recently.

There are a bunch of U.S.-based commercial companies who are now trying to compete and beat China to it.

So we've known since the 70s that we could do this with microwaves.

Just a little scary to think about.

So the way it works is you take the energy from these solar panels in orbit, way more efficient, because you're getting raw, unfiltered sunlight.

And you can do it 24-7.

So you call a mate, you gather this energy up, you convert it into microwaves, not trivial, but you can do it, and you beam it down.

Shoot it down.

But the problem with that is it's very Austin Powers.

Exactly.

Don't cross that screen.

So the company that we work with, Overview Energy, is a flashlight from orbit.

So they're doing it with IR.

The amazing thing about infrared, the amazing thing about that is you can shine it on existing PV arrays on photovoltaic cells, solar panels, so you don't have to build new restricting infrastructure.

Oh, okay.

So it's not, and this is the trade-off.

You can have perfect piercing efficiency with microwave, or you can do IR.

I think it's probably the only way regulatory-wise on Earth to get this approved.

But then you do, you get attenuated by water vapor.

So you have to do it on a clear sky day, or you do it to a place in Australia or Arizona.

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