I have never heard of Tesla until I watched a show on the pyramids. It was very interesting and raised questions about ancient technology. Were they more advanced than we are today?

At the time there was a lot of silliness along with him from outside sources. You know Aliens etc. but there was a core of hard science in his work. The Tesla Turbine is a thing of beauty, very efficient and powerful. His work on Lighting and power sourcing made all of what we have today, not to mention he invented the radio, not the other guy....

people.

Unquestioning Tesla "fans" need to learn a little more about what he actually did -- Initially, some groundbreaking engineering, but he didn't have any arcane secrets, despite what the woo authors would have you believe. Many of his most spectacular demonstrations involved expenditure of enormous amounts of energy -- efficiency wasn't that much of a concern. His lab in Colorado kept causing blackouts in the nearby town, and metal objects in the vicinity of running experiments threw off sparks. I don't think most people would consider that neighborly. If you don't see anyone pursuing these same projects today, you need to consider -- maybe there's good reason for that.

This -- exactly this:

"he didn't have any arcane secrets, despite what the woo authors would have you believe. Many of his most spectacular demonstrations involved expenditure of enormous amounts of energy"

Your point? Things like supercomputers, airplanes, automobiles, powerplants and moon landings don't come out of stir-sticks and rubber bands.

have the idea that Tesla had tapped into some secret source of energy, and that if we only knew his secrets, the world would be awash in cheap (or free) energy. The mindset that worships the idea of lost/suppressed Secret Knowledge is closely akin to the one that accepts conspiracy theories unquestioningly.

More specifically, by "expenditure" of energy I was implying that Tesla's often spectacular demonstrations -- involving huge spark discharges, glowing lamps with no direct power connection, etc. -- consumed energy with such inefficiency that they were not practical as anything beyond demonstrations, and would lead to huge power bills for anyone who wants to repeat them. The problem is, many people get the impression that because he was throwing such large amounts of energy around with abandon, he must have had some access to great amounts of energy. He did -- through the local power grid. Tesla's lab in CO consumed so much power that he caused blackouts in the neighboring town when he ran his experiments. Tesla was not PRODUCING energy -- he was CONSUMING it, but the sound-and-light show impressed the rubes so thoroughly they didn't often think about the difference.

Beam it down.

I was thinking that too.


Very cool stuff though...

Atmospheric degradation of the transmitted beam. The same problem that causes earth bound telescopes to have a fuzzier picture than the space based systems. The atmosphere shimmers, particles float into the way, degrading the beam of light, or energy. The longer the distance that the energy is transmitted, the more dissipation will occur. As the beam passes through the atmosphere, it will heat up, shimmer, shift, and the beam will be deflected, dissipated, and energy will be lost.

Imagine looking across the desert. The mirage effect, the shimmering air that bends light to make the desert dance before your eyes. That is what happens when you beam things through the atmosphere. It shimmers and dances, the beam moves, perhaps only a fraction of a minute of angle, but that is enough to completely miss the receiver.

The Keck observatory uses lasers to measure the deflection of the atmosphere, and the computer compensates for that interference. But that compensations is part hardware, and part software. You can't force the beam through the air. The beam will bend, dissipate, and the amount of power received by the station on the dark side of the planet will be a fraction of what was sent.

If you beam it straight up, and then via a system of satellites, then you have all sorts of junk in space floating in and out of the beam at random. Imagine one old discarded solar panel from Hubble accidentally floating in the way and for a moment the beam of energy is reflected elsewhere. Who knows where it would go? Or a panel from the Apollo program that protected the LEM on the way up, or a booster that is left in a degrading orbit. The number of things that would interrupt the power beam is limitless.

A minute of angle is roughly speaking one inch at one hundred yards. Imagine that minute of an error at 100 miles. The beam bends in an unexpected way, and disaster is the result.

why then would these Russian scientists pursue? Highly educated individuals who I would think would simply dismiss the work of Tesla if not at all possible.

Just look at Blacklight Power ...

......he made really solid contributions to the modern world:

• All of our alternating current generators, transformers and motors are Tesla's invention.
  
• He was the actual inventor of radio, not Marconi.
  
• His experiments with X-rays may have preceded those of Roentgen.

He should be honored for those and many other contributions to engineering and science.