According to a media a;lert sent out Tuesday by the National Space Society, a respected space advocacy groip, an announcement will be made Friday claiming a breakthrough in the long-distance, wireless transmission of power that could bring space-based solar power (SSP) one big step closer to reality.
Advocates of SSP have long argued it is the ultimate power solution for an advanced technological civilization. Energy collected from the Sun by huge satellites and beamed to the Earth's surface to be used in the power grid would be clean, safe, and inexhaustible. There would be no more need for any power plants on Earth. An SSP system would be decentralized, and therefore essentially impossible to disrupt.
The beaming part has been a sticking point, but the NSS alert says wireless transmission of power has been demonstrated between two Hawaiian islands. If true, given the curvature of the Earth, that might be trickier than beaming from orbit. The project will be examined Friday night as part of an energy special on DISCOVERY CHANNEL.
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