Could Harnessed Solar Power Be The Answer To The Energy Crisis

Over the last couple of months, the nightly news has been reporting on power shortages in California. Many scientists are predicting that this is only the beginning. They believe our population will grow to 10 billion by the year 2050, while our finite energy resources are dwindling.

"We need new sources of electrical power," said John Mankins, manager of advanced concepts studies at NASA Headquarters Office of Space Flight. "And we have been studying a variety of space solar power concepts. Tremendous advances have been made in many relevant technologies in the last 15 years."

Space solar power (SSP) research uses space-based systems to collect the sun's energy then transfer the energy to Earth's satellites or moon-based systems with solar cells that convert it into electricity to be beamed to the Earth's surface.

The possibility of harnessing the endless source of solar power would be a positive alternative to depending on nuclear power plants. Researchers have discussed this technology for several decades, and now as a new energy crisis arises, many politicians and government officials are looking to explore the possibility and fund research.

Concept Stage

In June of 1999, NASA started collecting proposals from universities and researchers around the country on how the space-based power generating systems would be developed through the SSP Exploratory Research and Technology Program (SERT).

"Ultimately, we'd like to put a 'power generation station' into space," said Axel Roth, head of the Flight Projects Directorate and selection team lead at the Marshall Center. "The 'power station' would harness the Sun's energy for use on Earth and by spacecraft traveling through the solar system."

Just some of the organizations involved in the proposal process include Boeing, Carnegie Mellon University, Ohio Aerospace Institute, Space Frontier Foundation, Auburn University and Rockwell Science Center.

Congressional Report

Last September, Mankins gave an in-depth statement to the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics Committee on Science of the U.S. House of Representatives. During his statement, he said that a, "large-scale SSP is a very complex integrated system of systems that requires numerous significant advances in current technology and capabilities." He also reported that the SERT program has developed several approaches to SSP technology that could be successful.

"Ultimately, in the post-2050 time frame, very large-scale, in-space SSP platforms in the greater than 10-gigawatt power class could become viable. Such systems might find application in providing very-large-scale power to terrestrial markets, for the industrial development of space resources, or in powering robotic probes to near-interstellar space during the latter portion of this century," stated Mankins.

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