Beaming Power

Advocates of space solar power are trying to persuade the Obama administration to take another look at beaming solar power collected by satellites back to Earth. Potentially, that could be the ultimate power source for human civilization, but all sides agree we are very far away from realizing that potential.

The Bush administration rejected a proposal to do a demonstration from ISS to determine whether power can in fact be beamed from orbit to the Earth's surface. That rejection came in December. In the few weeks since, however, the Obama administration has adopted a policy to aggressively pursue alternative sources of energy. It has also appointed people to NASA who support space solar power.

Developing a SSP system, however, would take huge capital outlays-- and capital seems in very short supply at present. A proof-of-concept program is likely all we'll be able to fund for quite some time.