March 3, 2009
Solar Power from Space
AdvancedConcepts asked:
Solar Power Satellites (SPS) are fairly large structures in space that convert solar energy, captured as solar irradiation, into an energy form that can be transmitted wirelessly (Wireless Power Transmission – WPT) to any remote location with a receiver station, either on Earth, to high altitude platforms, to other spacecraft or even to surfaces of the moon or other planets. …
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Comments on Solar Power from Space »
I totally agree with you. Humans are so dependant on energy that we have to do this.
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solar sterling is ready right now, it's affordable and way more efficient than PV-
it can be manufactured with current technology, it's cheap and produces AC power…
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Good points. I just hope with the cost of oil going down, we don't do what we did in the past and stop developing other forms or energy.
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Currently it is not effiecent and too costly! there cheaper ways for free energy. Wind, Geothermal…
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We should throw a lot of money at this, like the arms race of the 60s. The sun is always shinning in space.
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Obama's National Space Council should review SSP in short order, so that an announcement can be made by spring 2009. An announcement by the American President is the mother duck behind which all others align. More tests? Sure. Do all the tests and demos you want. I suggest that we need to fire up a helluva lot more than a light bulb from space to demo SSP's onions.
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Actually, Peter Glaser proposed it in 1968. O'Neill saw it as the major industrial reason to settle high orbit, and, therefore, a reason to build his 1-g rotating habitats. SSP has been favorably reviewed by NASA, DOE, and now DOD, and it is rapidly approaching a business case. A little nugget: Buzz Aldrin is talking with T. Boone Pickens about SSP, and he is working on large reusable launchers to start the job.
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It is about time. This idea has been kicking around since Gerard K O'Neill proposed it back in 1970.
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