Is this a realistic dream? If the United States decided to provide free power on its national highways as a matter of innovative public policy, where would it obtain the energy?
A Miraculous Source of Abundant Energy
First proposed by Dr. Peter Glaser in 1968, space-based solar technology can provide an inexhaustible, safe, pollution-free supply of energy and may offer a far more logical solution to current energy problems than petroleum or ethanol-based or even nuclear-fueled hydrogen systems.
The technology currently exists to launch solar-collector satellites into geostationary orbits around the Earth to convert the Sun's radiant energy into electricity 24 hours a day and to safely transmit the electricity by microwave beams to rectifying antennas (rectennas) on Earth.
Space-solar energy is the greatest source of untapped energy which could, potentially, completely solve the world's energy and greenhouse gas emission problems.
Following its proposal, the concept of solar power satellites was extensively studied by both the Department of Energy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. By 1981, it was determined that the concept was a high-risk venture; however, further study was recommended.
With increases in electricity demand and costs, NASA took a "fresh look" at the concept between 1995 and 1997. The NASA study envisioned a trillion-dollar project to place several dozen solar-power satellites in geostationary orbits by 2050, sending between two gigawatts and five gigawatts of power to Earth. However, the study's leader, John Mankins, now says the program "has fallen through the cracks because no organization is responsible for both space programs and energy security."
The project may have remained shelved except for the military's need for sources of energy in its campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, where petroleum costs $400 a gallon. A report by the Department of Defense's National Security Space Office in 2007 recommended that the U.S. "begin a coordinated national program to develop [space-based solar power]."
There are three basic engineering problems presented in the deployment of a space-based solar power system: The size, weight and capacity of solar collectors to absorb energy; the ability of robots to assemble solar collectors in outer space; and the cost and reliability of lifting collectors and robots into space.
Two of these problems have been substantially solved since space-solar power was originally proposed. New thin-film advances in the design of solar collectors have steadily improved, allowing for increases in the efficiency of energy conversion and decreases in size and weight. At the same time, industrial robots have been greatly improved and are now used extensively in heavy manufacturing to perform complex tasks.
The remaining problem is the expense of lifting equipment and materials into space. At a cost of $20,000 per kilogram of payload, the U.S. is currently relying the last few remaining flights of the space shuttle to move satellites into orbit and to resupply the space station. It has been estimated that economic viability of space solar energy would require a reduction in the payload cost to less than $200 per kilogram and the total expense, including delivery and assembly in orbit, to less than $3,500 per kilogram.
An American president once said, "We choose to go to the moon in this decade, not because it is easy, but because it is hard." The United States readily achieved that objective and, effectively, won the Cold War. A similar challenge is now presented in the "Energy War." What, if anything, will the current president say or do?
Although there are substantial costs associated with the development of space-solar power, it makes far more sense to invest the precious space exploration budget in the development of an efficient and reliable power supply for the future, rather than to waste tax dollars on a stupid and ineffective missile defense system or on an ego trip to Mars.
With funding for the space shuttle ending in 2012 and for the space station in 2017, America must decide upon a realistic policy for space exploration, or else it will be left in the dust by other nations, which are rapidly developing futuristic space projects.
China has aggressively moved into space by orbiting astronauts and by demonstrating a capability to destroy satellites. The nation is investing $35 billion of its hard-currency reserves in the development of energy-efficient green technology and has become the world's leading producer of solar panels and a major exporter of windmills.
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