Power in space · Generation, transmission, storage, use · Government and first-party sources
poweringspace
Image of the Day · 2026-08-22

The Line Is Held Open

One pole is opened for work, so the current takes the honeycomb road around the break, and the town at the end of the line never notices.

An artistic imagining, not real hardware. A pale technical plate drawn only in fine graphite lines and one cyan ink on warm bone paper. Four lattice transmission towers with splayed footings stand in a row across the sheet, carrying four horizontal conductor lines: two high trunk conductors and two lower distribution conductors, each hung on small hexagonal insulators. The topmost conductor is interrupted near the left, its cut ends fitted with open blades lifted clear at an angle, and the gap is spanned by a bright cyan bypass that rises, crosses a large hexagonal switch frame mounted on the second tower, and drops back to the line. A faint faceted ridge, a smaller line of masts receding behind, and three low domes with lit cyan windows sit on the horizon above a hatched highland floor.
An artistic imagining, not existing hardware: a long distance power line across a Martian highland, drawn as a technical plate, with one conductor opened for repair while its current is carried around the break through a hexagonal switch frame. A bipole transmission link really can keep running with one pole out of service, which is the physical reason a break like this need not mean a dark town. Image: poweringspace.com. Artistic imagining.
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