Space Future - Space Power

Space Power is about the generation of power from space.

The space around Earth is filled with intense sunlight, undiffused by atmosphere, continuously. It represents an inexhausible supply of energy that can be converted to electricity using semiconductors - that is without the use of any moving parts.

A small fraction of this energy could supply a large part of the world's future energy requirements for the foreseeable future. In addition, it could do it without the need for any kind of fuel, and without producing any waste product.

All that's needed is large-area collectors - and that means large, thousands of square kilometers - and a way to transmit the collected power down to Earth. Several different methods are possible, but the one that has received the most effort so far is the use of microwave beams or wireless power transmission.

WHAT'S NEW

29 July 2012: Added "Space Debris and Its Mitigation " to the archive.
16 July 2012: Space Future has been on something of a hiatus of late. With the concept of Space Tourism steadily increasing in acceptance, and the advances of commercial space, much of our purpose could be said to be achieved. But this industry is still nascent, and there's much to do. So...watch this space.
9 December 2010: Updated "What the Growth of a Space Tourism Industry Could Contribute to Employment, Economic Growth, Environmental Protection, Education, Culture and World Peace " to the 2009 revision.
7 December 2008: "What the Growth of a Space Tourism Industry Could Contribute to Employment, Economic Growth, Environmental Protection, Education, Culture and World Peace " is now the top entry on Space Future's Key Documents list.
30 November 2008: Added Lynx to the Vehicle Designs page.

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Space Power - SPS Timeline

The idea of delivering solar energy from space using a microwave beam has been around since the 1960's. Here's a summary of its progress so far...

1968	Peter Glaser proposes concept of SPS at Inter-society Energy Conversion Engineering Conference ( IECEC). His paper " Power from the Sun: Its Future" is reprinted in Science.
1978-81	US Department of Energy ( DOE) research program. NASA proposes SPS "Reference System" design.
1981	US DOE finishes SPS study, decides not to continue.
1982	Space Energy Engineering Division established at Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS ) in Japan.
1983	Japanese engineers fly sounding rocket experiment to test microwave transmission through the ionosphere - "MINIX".
1985	" SPS 85" international conference held in Paris
1991	" SPS 91" international conference held in Paris. Paper on " SPS 2000" wins prize as best proposal.
1992	"SPS 2000 News" newsletter started at ISAS , Ed. Professor Nagatomo.
1992	" SPS Rio" held in association with International Conference on Aid & Development ("RIO 92")
1993	METS International Conference on Wireless Power Transmission ( WPT) held in San Antonio, Texas. " SPS News" newsletter started at ISAS , Ed. Professor Nagatomo.
1994	March, Session on SPS at "Space 94" Conference in Albuquerque
	September, SPS 2000 field research visit to Tanzania
	November, WPT workshop on Reunion island to consider design of ground-based operational WPT system.
1995	March, SPS 2000 field research visit to Papua New Guinea
	NASA "Fresh Look" study started to reassess concept of SPS after 15 year gap since the US Department of Energy study from 1976 through 1980.
	September, "Space solar power: an advanced concepts study project" published by NASA , the proceedings of a "Technical interchange meeting".
	October, 2nd International Wireless Power Transmission Conference (WPT2) held at Kobe University.
	SPS 2000 field research visit to Brazil
	December, "Equatorial Times " newsletter for SPS 2000 rectenna countries started at Tokyo University, Research Center for Advanced Science & Technology ( RCAST).
1996	March, SPS 2000 Field research visit to Indonesia
	Session on space power held at "Space 96" in Albuquerque
	Phase 1 Report of "Fresh Look" study delivered to NASA LeRC by Space Applications International Corporation (SAIC)
	September, Two sessions on energy from space at International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation ( ISAP 96) held in Chiba.
	October, SPS 2000 field research visit to Ecuador
1997	Proceedings of WPT 2 published in Space Energy & Transportation Vol1, Nos 3 & 4.
	March, SPS 2000 field research visit to Maldives
	April, NASA 's "Fresh Look" Report published. Major conclusion: that in view of advances in technology, and prospects for growth in world electricity demand, SPS could be competitive with other energy sources and deserves further study. Major proposals: research aimed at a first SPS system of 250 MW costing about $10 billion and taking about 20 years.
	August, SPS '97 conference in Montreal (SFJ report). Some 100 participants from 14 countries discuss the current state of play for SPS. With the recent increase in activity aimed at reusable launch vehicles, the prospects for SPS are seen as better than for many years: " SPS's 2nd chance".
1998	September, SPS 2000 Field Research visit to Colombia gets agreement for equatorial rectenna site.
1998	September 27 - October 2, Meeting of IAF Space Power Committee at IAF Congress in Melbourne; plenary session on SPS includes spokesman for Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Japanese politician Tetsuo Saito.
2007	June, The Space Frontier Foundation creates a new public forum for space solar power, as does the Space Solar Alliance for Future Energy.
2007	October, U.S. Department of Defense, National Security Space Office publishes interim assessment of space solar power:

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