ORBITAL SOLAR SOLUTION

This idea has been around for more than 3 decades but lost importance in the 1990s world of plentiful $10/barrel oil. Present high energy costs and decreasing energy supplies make it seem more and practical. And space-based solar arrays would completely eliminate solar energy’s biggest bugaboo, its intermittency. (Also, check out SOLAR FROM CLOSER TO THE SOURCE)

Groups call for solar energy to be harvested in space
Theo Milonopoulos, October 14, 2007 (LA Times via Albany (NY) Times Union)

WHO
National Security Space Office (NSSO) of Department of Defense (DOD); Buzz Aldrin, chair, ShareSpace Foundation; Mark Hopkins, vp, National Space Society; Charles Miller, director, Space Frontier Foundation

Artist's rendering of the orbital solar energy collecting- and microwave-sending system.

WHAT
A report from NSSO to DOD suggests solar energy generators in a continuously sunlit orbit could be cost-effective in today’s high energy cost environment.

WHEN
- With the 50th anniversary of space exploration this year, many are wondering what the space challenge will be.
- It would probably take 10 years before such a program paid for itself.

WHERE
- The solar energy generators could be placed in a continuously sunlit orbit.

WHY
- The orbital system would have the potential of generating more energy in a year than all of earth’s oil reserves. A US-owned and operated system would make the country once again energy-rich.
- The energy would be beamed back to earth electromagnetically, a technology perfected by communications satellites.

Artist's rendering of an array of systems.

QUOTES
- Aldrin: "This is a solution for all mankind…"
- Miller: "Our energy dependence and potential global warming problems are long-term problems. ... So on a time scale, this solution matches up if we start investing now."