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About Space Solar Power (SSP, also known as Space-Based Solar Power, or SBSP):

The United States and the world need to find new sources of clean energy. Space Solar Power gathers energy from sunlight in space and transmits it wirelessly to Earth. Space solar power can solve our energy and greenhouse gas emissions problems. Not just help, not just take a step in the right direction, but solve. Space solar power can provide large quantities of energy to each and every person on Earth with very little environmental impact.

The solar energy available in space is literally billions of times greater than we use today. The lifetime of the sun is an estimated 4-5 billion years, making space solar power a truly long-term energy solution. As Earth receives only one part in 2.3 billion of the Sun's output, space solar power is by far the largest potential energy source available, dwarfing all others combined. Solar energy is routinely used on nearly all spacecraft today. This technology on a larger scale, combined with already demonstrated wireless power transmission (see 2-minute video of demo), can supply nearly all the electrical needs of our planet.

Another need is to move away from fossil fuels for our transportation system. While electricity powers few vehicles today, hybrids will soon evolve into plug-in hybrids which can use electric energy from the grid. As batteries, super-capacitors, and fuel cells improve, the gasoline engine will gradually play a smaller and smaller role in transportation — but only if we can generate the enormous quantities of electrical energy we need. It doesn't help to remove fossil fuels from vehicles if you just turn around and use fossil fuels again to generate the electricity to power those vehicles. Space solar power can provide the needed clean power for any future electric transportation system.

While all viable energy options should be pursued with vigor, space solar power has a number of substantial advantages over other energy sources.

Advantages of Space Solar Power

• Unlike oil, gas, ethanol, and coal plants, space solar power does not emit greenhouse gases.
  
  
• Unlike coal and nuclear plants, space solar power does not compete for or depend upon increasingly scarce fresh water resources.
  
  
• Unlike bio-ethanol or bio-diesel, space solar power does not compete for increasingly valuable farm land or depend on natural-gas-derived fertilizer. Food can continue to be a major export instead of a fuel provider.
  
  
• Unlike nuclear power plants, space solar power will not produce hazardous waste, which needs to be stored and guarded for hundreds of years.
  
  
• Unlike terrestrial solar and wind power plants, space solar power is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in huge quantities. It works regardless of cloud cover, daylight, or wind speed.
  
  
• Unlike nuclear power plants, space solar power does not provide easy targets for terrorists.
  
  
• Unlike coal and nuclear fuels, space solar power does not require environmentally problematic mining operations.
  
  
• Space solar power will provide true energy independence for the nations that develop it, eliminating a major source of national competition for limited Earth-based energy resources.
  
  
• Space solar power will not require dependence on unstable or hostile foreign oil providers to meet energy needs, enabling us to expend resources in other ways.
  
  
• Space solar power can be exported to virtually any place in the world, and its energy can be converted for local needs — such as manufacture of methanol for use in places like rural India where there are no electric power grids. Space solar power can also be used for desalination of sea water.
  
  
• Space solar power can take advantage of our current and historic investment in aerospace expertise to expand employment opportunities in solving the difficult problems of energy security and climate change.
  
  
• Space solar power can provide a market large enough to develop the low-cost space transportation system that is required for its deployment. This, in turn, will also bring the resources of the solar system within economic reach.

Disadvantages of Space Solar Power

• High development cost. Yes, space solar power development costs will be very large, although much smaller than American military presence in the Persian Gulf or the costs of global warming, climate change, or carbon sequestration. The cost of space solar power development always needs to be compared to the cost of not developing space solar power.

Requirements for Space Solar Power

The technologies and infrastructure required to make space solar power feasible include:

• Low-cost, environmentally-friendly launch vehicles. Current launch vehicles are too expensive, and at high launch rates may pose atmospheric pollution problems of their own. Cheaper, cleaner launch vehicles are needed.
  
  
• Large scale in-orbit construction and operations. To gather massive quantities of energy, solar power satellites must be large, far larger than the International Space Station (ISS), the largest spacecraft built to date. Fortunately, solar power satellites will be simpler than the ISS as they will consist of many identical parts.
  
  
• Power transmission. A relatively small effort is also necessary to assess how to best transmit power from satellites to the Earth’s surface with minimal environmental impact.

All of these technologies are reasonably near-term and have multiple attractive approaches. However, a great deal of work is needed to bring them to practical fruition.

In the longer term, with sufficient investments in space infrastructure, space solar power can be built from materials from space. The full environmental benefits of space solar power derive from doing most of the work outside of Earth's biosphere. With materials extraction from the Moon or near-Earth asteroids, and space-based manufacture of components, space solar power would have essentially zero terrestrial environmental impact. Only the energy receivers need be built on Earth.

Space solar power can completely solve our energy problems long term. The sooner we start and the harder we work, the shorter "long term" will be.

Links

NSS web pages devoted to SSP

• NSS Space Solar Power Library
• NSS Position Paper on Space Solar Power [PDF]
• NSS Blogs on Space Solar Power
• Brochure on Space-Based Solar Power [PDF]
• Press Conference on First International Assessment of Space Solar Power
• Kalam-NSS Energy Initiative Press Conference
• Kalam-National Space Society Energy Technology Universal Initiative: An International Preliminary Feasibility Study on Space Based Solar Power Stations [PDF]
• Space Solar Power Press Conference (September 12, 2008)
• Press Conference on 2007 National Security Space Office study of space solar power
• News reports on 2007 National Security Space Office study of space solar power
  

Other web pages devoted to SSP (alphabetical)

• Citizens for Space Based Solar Power
• Connecting the Dots to Future Electric Power - Dr. Edward J. Blair, Indiana University
• EADS Astrium: Space Based Solar Power: innovating for clean energy
• International SunSat Design Competition
• International Collegiate Solar Power Satellite Design Competition
• Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA): Practical Application of Space-Based Solar Power Generation
• Mitsubishi Electric: How Solarbird Works
• Moon Society Solar Power Beaming Desktop Demo Unit Online Kit
• Orbital Power Corporation
• PowerSat Corporation
• Research and Markets: Analyzing Microwave Power Transmission & Solar Power Satellite Systems (expensive report dated October 2009; we have not seen it)
• Research and Markets: Microwave Power Transmission Market Potential (expensive report dated July 2008; outstanding detailed report; current availability unknown)
• Solar High - Energy for the 21st Century
• Space-Based Solar Power - Public discussion of 2007 National Security Space Office study of space solar power
• Space Based Solar Power - Wikipedia
• Space Canada - Solar Power Alternative for Clean Energy
• Space Energy Corporation
• Space Environment Technologies: The Vision for Producing Fresh Water Using Space Solar Power
• Spacefaring America: Space Solar Power - Mike Snead's weblog includes extensive articles on Space Solar Power and America's Future
• SpaceFuture.com Space Power section
• Space Solar Power - from the Space Development Steering Committee
• Space Solar Power - An Earth to Orbit Challenge - from NASA Kennedy Space Center
• Space Solar Power Disaster Relief - Online Journal of Space Communication, Ohio University
• Space Solar Power Info - News and Blog by QualityPoint Technologies (India)
• Space Solar Power Information Service
• Space Solar Power Institute - solarsat.org
• Space Solar Power (SSP) - A Solution for Energy Independence & Climate Change - position paper submitted to the Obama-Biden Transition Team at Change.gov, with public comments
• Space Solar Power Workshop
• SSP Monitor
• U. S. Department of Energy: Space-Based Solar Power

Articles (chronological) - See also China, India, and Japan below

• The Space Review: Are solar power satellites sitting ducks for orbital debris? (September 22, 2014)
• The Energy Collective: Power Satellite Progress (September 9, 2014)
• Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Solar Power Origami Style (August 14, 2014)
• Business Insider: What if Giant Space-Based Solar Panels Could Beam Unlimited Power to the Earth? (August 11, 2014)
• Aviation Week: New Concepts For Solar Power From Space Collectors (June 9, 2014)
• New York Times: Peter Glaser, Who Envisioned Space Solar Power, Dies at 90 (June 5, 2014)
• Japan Times: Space-based power stations on the horizon (May 27, 2014)
• The Space Review: Building a bridge to space solar power for terrestrial use (May 12, 2012)
• Extreme Tech: Japan's 25-year plan to put a gigawatt solar power farm in space (April 28, 2012)
• IEEE Spectrum: How Japan Plans to Build an Orbital Solar Farm (April 24, 2012).
• Aviation Week: Low-Cost Launches May Boost Chances for Space Solar Power (April 18, 2014)
• Beyond Apollo: Solar Power Satellites: A [Historical Visual Introduction (April 18, 2014)
• Navy Research Laboratory News: Solar Power When It's Raining: NRL Builds Space Satellite Module to Try (March 12, 2014)
  • Daily Mail: US Navy reveals plot to beam power from SPACE using giant orbiting solar panels (March 17, 2014)
  • Wired: The Navy's Plan to Beam Down Energy From Orbiting Solar Panels (March 17, 2014)
• U. S. Department of Energy: Space-Based Solar Power (March 6, 2014)
• GreentechSolar: Can 3-D Printing Turn Space-Based Solar Into a Reality? (November 27, 2013)
• Space Exploration Network (SEN): Japan aims to beam solar energy down from orbit (September 28, 2013)
• Daily Mail: Plugged into the sun: Solar panel satellite could beam a THIRD of humanity's power to Earth by 2025, claims former Nasa engineer (August 26, 2013)
• MotherBoard: This Satellite Could Be Beaming Solar Power Down from Space by 2025 (August 23, 2013)
• The National: Solar energy plan no space oddity (June 7, 2013)
• The Economist: Manna from heaven: Solar arrays in space could meet many of Earth's energy needs (June 2, 2013)
• Slate: Blue Sky Thinking: The entirely serious plan to collect solar energy by spaceship and beam it back to Earth with lasers (March 26, 2013)
• The Voice of Russia: Russia plans giant solar power station to orbit Earth (March 4, 2013)
• BBC: Space-based solar farms power up (February 27, 2013)
• Times of India: China proposes space solar power collaboration with India (November 2, 2012)
• Aviation Week: Space Solar Power Looks For Shortcuts (October 22, 2012)
• Aviation Week: Clearing the Obstacles to Space Solar Power (October 18, 2012)
• Russia Beyond the Headlines: Russia enters the race for cosmic energy (September 3, 2012)
• SpaceRef.com: Is There a Future for Space-Based Solar Power? (June 11, 2012)
• Next Big Future: A new paradigm for space-based solar power (June 7, 2012)
• BBC News: Sticking solar power station where the Sun shines (with 2 videos) (May 16, 2012)
• University of Strathclyde, Glascow: Bright future for solar power in space (May 16, 2012)
• New Energy and Fuel: NASA Starts to Get Serious On Space Based Solar Power (April 12, 2012)
• Space.com: Proposed Satellite Would Beam Solar Power to Earth (April 6, 2012)
• PolicyMic: Space-Based Solar Power, Electrofuels, and the Top 5 Energy Technologies of the Future (March 15, 2012)
• Space.com: Air Force Eyes Nuclear Reactors, Beamed Power for Spacecraft (February 22, 2012)
• NBC: Air Force Plans Nuke-Powered Spacecraft, Space-Based Power Stations (February 22, 2012)
• Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET): Space-Based Solar Power Could Arrive in Ten Years and Create Millions of Jobs, Say Researchers
• Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Projecting power: The security implications of space-based solar power (February 15, 2012)
• Discovery News: Beaming Down Earth's Energy from Space (December 20, 2011)
• Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review: The Development of Space Solar Power System Technologies (Vol. 48 No. 4, December 2011) [PDF]
• National Geographic: Beam It Down: A Drive to Launch Space-Based Solar (December 5, 2011)
• Next Big Future: Space Based Solar Power Status (November 29, 2011)
• The Space Review: Making the case, again, for space-based solar power (November 28, 2011)
• Yahoo News: Is Space-Based Solar Power's Time Drawing Nigh? (November 28, 2011)
• Next Big Future: Major IAA Space Based Solar Power Report (November 27, 2011)
• Power-Technology.com: Giant leap for space-based solar (November 24, 2011)
• Aviation Week: Space Solar Power Seen Profitable By 2040 (print edition Nov. 21, 2011, p.20)
• ABC Science: Space solar power touted for energy needs (November 14, 2011)
• Reuters: Orbital solar power plants touted for energy needs (November 13, 2011)
• Kurzweil AI: A limitless power source for the indefinite future (November 11, 2011)
• The Space Review: National Space Strategy: proactive or reactive? (October 3, 2011)
• Observer Research Foundation: China Walks the US-India Space Solar Power Dream (September 21, 2011)
• South China Morning Post: [China] Space agency looks to capture sun's power (September 5, 2011)
• Want China Times: China unveils plan for solar power station in space (September 2, 2011)
• Young Scientists Journal: Can space-based solar power save the climate? (August 1, 2011)
• China News: Chinese "Four Step" Development of Space Solar Power Station Faces Enormous Challenges (July 12, 2011)
• Photovoltaics Insider: Beaming solar power from space (July 11, 2011)
• Orbital Power Corporation: Thin Film Solar Cells (July 9, 2011)
• PTI India: Power From Space to Tackle Fukushima-Like Incidents? (June 26, 2011)
• The Economist: Beam it down, Scotty: Harvesting solar power in space, for use on Earth, comes a step closer to reality (June 23, 2011)
• The Oil Drum: Space Solar Power – Recent Conceptual Progress (June 3, 2011)
• Space Solar Power Disaster Relief - Online Journal of Space Communication, Ohio University (June 3, 2011)
• Truthout: The Race for Space-Solar Energy (April 30, 2011)
• The Daily Pioneer: Post-Japan, the hunt for the safest option (April 23, 2011)
• Observer Research Foundation: Space Based Solar Power: Time to Put it on the New US-India S&T Endowment Fund? (April 2, 2011)
• The Public Record: The Race for Space Solar Energy (March 23, 2011)
• Kurzweil AI: A Radical Alternative to Nuclear Reactors (March 15, 2011)
• GE Txchnologist: Space Race: Will Space-Based Solar Take Off? (March 10, 2011)
• MSNBC: How Serious is Space Solar Power? (February 25, 2011)
• El Paso Times: Rolling blackouts and space-based power (February 8, 2011)
• Daily Yomiuri: Space-based solar power set for 1st test (January 23, 2011)
• Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association International (AFCEA) Signal: Space-Based Solar Power Comes Closer to Reality (December 2010)
• Aviation Week: Indian, U.S. Experts Team on Space Solar Power (November 4, 2010)
• Solar Novus Today: Space-based Solar Power: Nearing the Tipping Point? (November 2, 2010)
• Aviation Week: A Compelling Argument for Space Solar Power (June 22, 2010)
• The Telegraph: Lasers to beam energy to Earth from space (January 23, 2010)
• BBC News: EADS Astrium develops space power concept (December 19, 2009)
• Daily Finance: California gives green light to space-based solar power project (December 4, 2009)
• GreentechSolar: Solaren to Close Funding for Space Solar Power (December 4, 2009)
• San Francisco Chronicle: PG&E moves to add energy from wind, space (December 4, 2009)
• New York Times: Solar Plant in Space Gets Go-Ahead (December 3, 2009)
• Space.com: Controversy Flares Over Space-Based Solar Power Plans (December 2, 2009)
• California Public Utilities Commission: PG&E's proposed power purchase agreement complies with the RPS procurement guidelines and is approved with conditions (November 20, 2009)
• CNN Money: Regulators Propose OK Of PG&E Space-Based Solar Deal (November 20, 2009)
• Miller-McCune: Snagging Free-Range Solar Power in Space Is An Option (October 25, 2009)
• Houston Chronicle: Space-based solar power can help on energy needs, by Nick Lampson (October 22, 2009)
• Wall Street Journal: Five Technologies That Could Change Everything (Space-Based Solar Power is listed first) (October 19, 2009)
• The Space Review: An Electrifying Conference? (September 28, 2009)
• Daily Finance: Plans for solar power from outer space move forward (September 26, 2009)
• MSNBC: