Here’s a NASA feasibility study https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19890059163

Microwaves most likely. Both NASA and ESA have done feasibility studies on similar ideas.

The idea isn’t new, the power is beamed to earth using microwaves. A good overview can be found here https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/SOLARIS/FAQ_Frequently_Asked_Questions_on_Space-Based_Solar_Power

I suspect it’s because it’s easier to have a mass following on a centralized platform. A federated platform will inherently be at odds with that. I personally don’t see that as necessarily a bad thing either as it makes the Fediverse unattractive to commercial interests and marketers.

Relative obscurity is an aspect of it for sure, and I imagine networking effects are a big part of it as well. Accounts with a lot of followers tend to drive where people migrate. When a big account leaves twitter to bluesky they can pull thousands or even millions of users along with them. Meanwhile, people moving to Fediverse end up having to abandon a lot of the people they were following as a result. It’s also a lot easier for an account to grow on a centralized platform which is another reinforcing factor here.

It’s possible that we’ll hit a point of critical mass where Fediverse becomes the dominant social media platform, but I don’t think explosive growth is necessary either. Growth for the sake of growth holds little inherent value. Unlike commercial platforms reliant on VC funding to survive, Fediverse thrives on sustainability. What really matters is that there are enough developers to maintain the platforms, people to host the servers, and users to create content. With these elements in place, platforms like Lemmy and Mastodon can continue indefinitely without the need to attract users at a rapid pace.

In fact, rapid growth could do more harm than good. A sudden influx of users often brings toxic behaviors. When new users trickle in slowly, they adapt to the existing norms and culture of the community. But when a horde arrives, they risk overwhelming and reshaping the community in ways that trample over its core values. A steady stream of users allows for organic integration, preserving the essence of what makes sites like Lemmy pleasant.

Unlike commercial platforms, open-source projects don’t rely on profit motives to survive. They’re driven by people who directly benefit from their work and are passionate about their vision. When disagreements arise, projects can be forked, allowing different groups to take them in new directions. Even if a project is abandoned, it can be revived by a new team as long as there’s a dedicated community. This flexibility and resilience make open source inherently more sustainable than commercial platforms, which can vanish overnight if funding dries up.

The Fediverse, and Lemmy within it, only needs a large enough user base to remain self-sustaining. I’d argue that it’s already well past that threshold. There’s no rush to grow rapidly. Steady progress ensures the community retains its identity and values, while the open-source nature of the platform guarantees its longevity. Lemmy isn’t just another platform; it’s a sustainable, adaptable ecosystem built to endure. I’m willing to bet that Lemmy will still be around long after sites like Reddit crumble to dust.

I find it funny how every time an oligarch owned platform starts getting popular people start screeching about Fediverse losing momentum. Yet, every few years these platforms inevitably start doing things that horrify their users and we see another exodus to open platforms happen.

and looks like they’re using it for serious research too

China has an incredibly strong incentive to pursue this, and there’s massive state level funding behind such projects. I think there’s every reason to expect that they will succeed here.

yeah that thing looks like a blast

Pretty sure Russia has been flying a lot more missions over past three years than US has. No only that, but they actually have to contend with real AD instead of just terrorizing farmers, but do go on making some very interesting and intelligent points.

I don’t have info on SU57 yearly costs, aside from the link I’ve already provided for you. However, as I keep repeating, and you keep ignoring, overall military spending in Russia is FAR LOWER than in the US. That alone clearly shows that cost has to be lower. Perhaps try engaging with that instead of dancing around the elephant in the room.

do feel free to provide sources for the claim

Oh yeah, GRIS was fantastic as well. I really love their art direction in both games.

Also how are they stealing this tech from the future!

Of course you can blanket say that SU57 is cheaper. We know that the total cost of the jet is a fraction of f35, we know that Russian military industry is state owned, and is not operated for profit, and we know that Russia spends a fraction of what US does on the military overall. It’s obvious to anybody with even a minimally functioning brain that the cost of weapon production in Russia is much lower than in the US. Meanwhile, the fact that Russia makes engines that actually last a long time shows the strength of Russian engineering.

The article I linked above talks about lifetime costs. Just to be clear, are you seriously trying to argue that the maintenance cost of SU-57 is comparable to that of F-35. Just want to have that on record here.

If you’re saying it’s still pre production, then it’s production delay is worse than the F35.

I’m saying it’s still being tested in actual combat conditions and kinks are being ironed out before mass production starts. This is how you avoid having a debacle like F35 where you start producing something in volume and then discover crippling problems down the road.

Also, not sure what argument you’re trying to make regarding the cost being subsidized. The cost is labor and material used to build it. It costs the Russian state 35 million a pop. There is absolutely no reason to think this cost will go up dramatically once mass production starts. In fact, what happens is that economies of scale kick in and costs go down.

F22 was introduced in 1996, SU57 is a new platform that’s still being tested and hasn’t been put into mass production. The manufacturing only started in 2019, and there are already 32 produced. Let me know if you need help crunching the numbers on that one.

What’s the su57 cost per hour taking into account maintainer income differences?

The cost of the entire jet is a mere $35 million. Here’s an article you can read discussing the lifetime cost comparison

https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2023/06/23/how-su-57-dodged-the-f-22-f-35s-lifetime-crippling-cost-bullet/

Here’s what an actual battle test platform looks like:

The Russian Air Force has demonstrated high confidence in the Su-57’s stealth capabilities, and has deployed the fighters for high intensity combat operations to parts of the Ukrainian theatre with particularly high concentrations of Ukrainian air defences.

The Su-57 program has prioritised reducing maintenance needs and operational costs to avoid the very low availability rates that have plagued America’s F-117, F-22 and F-35 stealth fighter fleets. One notable means by which this had been achieved is through reduced reliance on radar absorbent coatings, which was achieved by using innovative solutions such as radar absorbent fibreglass. In contrast to American stealth fighters which consistently cost far more to operate than their fourth generation predecessors, this approach allows the Su-57 to potentially achieve lower operational costs than its direct predecessor the Soviet Su-27, thus allowing Russia to move its fleet into the fifth generation without either significantly raising sustainment funding or contracting the number of fighters in service.

https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/first-look-stealth-optimised-al51f-1-powering-russia-su-57m

You’ve displayed your lack of insight into each and every aspect enough as it is.

And addressing your childish game of name calling isn’t an ad hominem attack.

I see you don’t know what ad hominem means. Ad hominem isn’t a personal attack, it’s a way to deflect from the point being made. You’re trying to discredit what I’m saying by claiming that I don’t know what I’m talking about. You’re not providing counter points, but instead attacking me to deflect because at the end of the day you’rej ust a troll.

In any case, I’ve said all I needed to say here. You can keep on bleating if you like though. Bye.

Again, it’s very clear what the party calls itself, and the fact that you choose to intentionally use a different way to call it even after being corrected is idiotic in the extreme, so is running around calling people you disagree with tankies. Keep on making a clown of yourself.

Far more expensive compared to SU-57 that’s actually been proven effective in combat against NATO air defence systems. This is how actual weapons are developed:

The Russian Air Force has demonstrated high confidence in the Su-57’s stealth capabilities, and has deployed the fighters for high intensity combat operations to parts of the Ukrainian theatre with particularly high concentrations of Ukrainian air defences.

The Su-57 program has prioritised reducing maintenance needs and operational costs to avoid the very low availability rates that have plagued America’s F-117, F-22 and F-35 stealth fighter fleets. One notable means by which this had been achieved is through reduced reliance on radar absorbent coatings, which was achieved by using innovative solutions such as radar absorbent fibreglass. In contrast to American stealth fighters which consistently cost far more to operate than their fourth generation predecessors, this approach allows the Su-57 to potentially achieve lower operational costs than its direct predecessor the Soviet Su-27, thus allowing Russia to move its fleet into the fifth generation without either significantly raising sustainment funding or contracting the number of fighters in service.

https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/first-look-stealth-optimised-al51f-1-powering-russia-su-57m

Ah yes. Now I’m a racist as well. What do you base that on exactly?

I base that on your religious belief in western superiority.

If you think they’ve never tested the stealth capabilities of the f35 you’re delusional.

I know they’ve never tested capabilities of f35 because it’s never been used in combat against a peer competitor. The fact that you don’t understand this shows that you are in fact the one who got absolutely nothing in terms of knowledge on the subject, and are incapable of rational thought in general.

You got absolutely nothing in terms of knowledge on the subject, which is why you resort to personal attacks and throw in the occasional “no u” to derail the discussion into a match of name calling. You follow the same pattern every time.

I love how you keep making ad hominem attacks here to distract from your utter ignorance.

LMFAO

It never changed. The official and correct name of the party is has always been The Communist Party of China: CPC. I hae no idea why people in western mainstream insist on misspelling it. It’s like if I just arbitrarily decided to spell USA as SUA and then insisted that it’s the way it should be spelled despite the official spelling being very clear.

You can keep repeating that it succeeded till you’re blue in the face, but the reality is that it’s far from a successful platform. It’s highly unreliable, and it needs a ton expensive of maintenance. It’s the opposite of what you want in a weapon which is to be cheap, reliable, and easy to service. It’s a toy.

F35 was an attempt to make something better, and after over a trillion dollars being poured into the project over many years, it’s an unmitigated disaster.

I know one is the proper spelling of how the party calls itself and the other is an intentional misspelling western trolls use.

If the US ever had use them to fight a peer competitor then these 200 would disappear very quickly. At that point the US would be unable to replace them because it lacks industrial capacity to do so.

I know what The Communist Party of China (CPC) is.

as a museum piece

I never gave a number, and it’s weird that you would assume something like that. Also, no idea what CCP is.

Jfs has been a cluster, they wanted a VTOL jet that do everything, which physics doesn’t like. But with 15 years extra development, they kinda did it.

In the same way the Cybertruck is kind of a truck.

80% readiness is higher than most jets, my sources are actually showing loser, but still in line with other military jets.

80% is not the readiness of F22, but a target they can’t hit.

And is your third source just saying that the biggest problem with the F22 is that they want more of them? That hardly seems like a criticism of the plane itself.

It’s a criticism of the abysmal production capability showing that these things are artisanally made.

Evidently you don’t understand the concept of evidence. An article that says trust me bro is not evidence. Evidence would be satellite imagery of the site that was supposedly attacked which doesn’t exist. Hope that clears things up for you.

The reality is that U2 was dead on arrival.

Sure both were experimental, and the experiment with U2 was to make something fly so high that it couldn’t be intercepted. Turned out that the US underestimated the quality of the AD systems Soviets developed.

Nah, Just anything that is presented without a shred of evidence for the benefit of racist rubes such as yourself.

But what it DOES do well, is performing as a stealth strike craft.

Incredible claim to make given that it’s never been used against a peer adversary with actual modern AD. The fact that you state this as a fact shows that you’re utterly incapable of critical thought. Probably the reason you fall for conspiracy theories so readily.

It really shows your insecurity the moment something doesn’t go your way.

So much projection here.

You speak of “generations” as if the jets are a console. “They’re making a 6th gen aircraft”. They claim they’re making a 6:th gen aircraft. That claim won’t be proven until they start producing. Until then it’s nothing but speculation and fairy dust.

Maybe learn a bit about the subject you’re attempting to debate and the common terminology used instead of making a clown of yourself in public.

Buddy, you’ve not just fallen for propaganda, you’ve taken an express elevator right down the shaft and keep drilling once you arrive.

You’ve perfectly described yourself there kiddo.

Hard to think of another modern jet built outside Yankeestan that has problems that come even close to those that F35 flying cybertruck is having.

While the F-35 has problems of its own, its no secret that China is yet to manage to develop anything that can rival or beat their RAM.

[citation needed]

While the F-35 has problems of its own, its no secret that China is yet to manage to develop anything that can rival or beat their RAM.

The prototype China is making is for a jet a generation after F35, they already have an answer to F35 in production and it hasn’t cost over a trillion dollars to make. In fact, Chinese military budget overall is only a fraction of what Yankeestan spends.

And it does fill that specific role quite well.

No it doesn’t. As many experts have explained in great detail, F35 tries to do too many things and it doesn’t do any of them well. It’s incredibly expensive to maintain, it has constant breakdowns, and they can’t even keep a sufficient number of them operational as a result.

I remember the hype about Chinas new submarines. Oh they were gonna be so good and so stealthy. Turns out they didn’t make it far out of the Harbour before sinking.

The fact that you’d latch onto a conspiracy theory really highlights the quality of your intellect.

So what was that you said about China producing things that “actually work”? Or maybe you excluded their sinking sub in that statement. I must have missed the asterisk

Nah, I’m just not dumb enough to fall for propaganda marketed to people who don’t have fully developed brains.

Private sector in China is not allowed to operate the same way the private sector operates in the west. So, your whole comparison is fundamentally flawed.

I’m sure you can look it up since you’re the one who brought it up.