A NEW POLICY APPROACH, WITH THE GOVERNMENT ASSISTING IN DEMONSTRATION SATELLITES, WILL END SBSP STALL-Cramer Shea ‘10
[Karen; M.A. Science Technology and Public Policy with Specialty in Space Policy from the George Washington University; Why Has SPS R&D Received So Little Funding?; Online Journal of Space Communication; Winter 2010; http://spacejournal.ohio.edu/issue16/shea.html; retrieved 24 Jun 2011]
Space solar power has no serious technical issues standing in its way, but it is facing crippling policy dilemmas. By taking a new policy approach, we may be able to get out of a decades-long quagmire. Energy and space are within the mandate of the Department of Commerce. Help with the deployment of four full scale space solar power satellites will incentivize the launch industry to develop new technologies and more efficient techniques and facilities.
BUILDING ONE IS ENOUGH TO BREAK PAST THE BARRIERS-Boswell ‘04
[David; Whatever happened to solar power satellites?; The Space Review; 30 August 2004; http://www.thespacereview.com/article/214/1; retrieved 9 August 2011]
There are a number of reasons why we won’t be seeing huge orbiting solar collectors beaming us lots of energy anytime soon. Starting the development of such a system by building small proof of concept satellites is completely within our reach, though. There are economic, political, and engineering hurdles in the way, but none of these should be enough to stop the idea if we choose to pursue it. Once a successful demonstration has been achieved, there may be enough interest in government or in private industry to continue working toward fully-operational solar power satellites.
SOLVENCY: GOVERNMENT SUPPORT IS CRITICAL
GOVERNMENT POLICY AND REGULATORY SUPPORT WILL BE CRUCIAL TO SBSP SUCCESS-Hsu ‘10
[Feng; Sr. Vice President Systems Engineering & Risk Management, Space Energy Group; Harnessing the Sun: Embarking on Humanity's Next Giant Leap; Online Journal of Space Communication; Winter 2010; http://spacejournal.ohio.edu/issue16/hsu.html;retrieved 23 Jun 2011]
Government policy and regulatory support will be crucial to success, as will the funding of R&D and related technology demonstrations. U.S. government support for space solar during the 1980s was negligible. NASA initiated its "A Fresh Look" studies in the mid-1990's. Subsequently, the U.S. Department of Energy abstained from any involvement. During this time, the Japanese government and industry became interested in the SPS concept. The Japanese updated the reference system design developed in the System Definition Studies of the late 1970's, conducted some limited testing and proposed a low orbit 10 megawatt demonstration satellite. So far, their effort has been curtailed by their economic problems and by their lack of manned space capability. SPS Interest by other nations has persisted, but only at low levels of activity.
SBSP COULD BE JUMPSTARTED WITH LOW-INTEREST LOANS FROM THE GOVERNMENT-Bova ‘08
[Ben; president emeritus of the National Space Society; An Energy Fix Written in the Stars; Washington Post; 12 Oct 2008]
I admit, solar power satellites won't be cheap. Constructing one would cost about as much as building a nuclear power plant: on the order of $1 billion. That money, though, needn't come from the taxpayers; it could be raised by the private capital market. Oil companies invest that kind of money every year in exploring for new oil fields. But the risk involved in building an SPS, as with any space operation, is considerable, and it could be many years or even decades before an investment begins to pay off. So how can we get private investors to put their money into solar power satellites?
This nation tackled a similar situation about a century ago, when faced with building big hydroelectric dams. Those dams were on the cutting edge of technology at the time, and they were risky endeavors that required hefty funding. The Hoover Dam, the Grand Coulee Dam and others were built with private investment -- backed by long-term, low-interest loans guaranteed by the U.S. government. They changed the face of the American West, providing irrigation water and electrical power that stimulated enormous economic growth. Phoenix and Las Vegas wouldn't be on the map except for those dams.
Solar power satellites could be funded through the same sort of government-backed loans. Washington has made such loan guarantees in the past to help troubled corporations such as Chrysler and Lockheed. Why not use the same technique to encourage private investment in solar power satellites? If we can bail out Wall Street, why not spend a fraction of that money to light up Main Street?
SOLVENCY: ANCHOR CUSTOMER
FINANCIAL INCENTIVES AND SIGNING UP AS AN ANCHOR CUSTOMER WILL IMPROVE THE BUSINESS CASE FOR SBSP-Rouge, et al ‘07
[Joseph; Acting Director, National Security Space Office; Space‐Based Solar Power
As an Opportunity for Strategic Security; 10 2007; retrieved 24 Jun 2011; http://www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/library/final-sbsp-interim-assessment-release-01.pdf]
The business case is much more likely to close in the near future if the U.S. Government agrees to:
-
Sign up as an anchor tenant customer, and
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Make appropriate technology investment and risk‐reduction efforts by the U.S. Government, and
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Provide appropriate financial incentives to the SBSP industry that are similar to the significant incentives that Federal and State Governments are providing
THE GOVERNMENT COULD RAPIDLY ACCELERATE SBSP TECH BY HELPING RESEARCH AND BECOMING A CUSTOMER-Lemonick ‘09
[Michael; senior writer at Climate Central; Solar Power from Space:Moving Beyond Science Fiction; Environment 360; 31 Aug 2009; http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2184; retrieved 23 Jun 2011]
By undertaking some of the research and being an early customer for SBSP, the government could rapidly accelerate development of the technology. Historians of aviation agree that the government’s decision to back air mail played a major role in developing the aircraft industry, leading to technological innovations and economies of scale. The same phenomenon could take an emerging but outlandish-sounding technology and push it into the energy mainstream.
IF THE GOVERNMENT BECOMES AN EARLY ADOPTER, IT WILL SPUR INVESTMENT-Rouge, et al ‘07
[Joseph; Acting Director, National Security Space Office; Space‐Based Solar Power
As an Opportunity for Strategic Security; 10 2007; retrieved 24 Jun 2011; http://www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/library/final-sbsp-interim-assessment-release-01.pdf]
Several major challenges will need to be overcome to make SBSP a reality, including the creation of low‐cost space access and a supporting infrastructure system on Earth and in space. Solving these space access and operations challenges for SBSP will in turn also open space for a host of other activities that include space tourism, manufacturing, lunar or asteroid resource utilization, and eventually settlement to extend the human race. Because DoD would not want to own SBSP satellites, but rather just purchase the delivered energy as it currently does via traditional terrestrial utilities, a repeated review finding is that the commercial sector will need Government to accomplish three major tasks to catalyze SBSP development. The first is to retire a major portion of the early technical risks. This can be accomplished via an incremental research and development program that culminates with a space‐borne proof‐of‐concept demonstration in the next decade. A spiral development proposal to field a 10 MW continuous pilot plant en route to gigawatts‐class systems is included in Appendix B. The second challenge is to facilitate the policy, regulatory, legal, and organizational instruments that will be necessary to create the partnerships and relationships (commercial‐commercial, government‐commercial, and government‐government) needed for this concept to succeed. The final Government contribution is to become a direct early adopter and to incentivize other early adopters much as is accomplished on a regular basis with other renewable energy systems coming on‐line today.
SOLVENCY: TIME TO ACT IS NOW
IT’S IMPERATIVE THAT THE US BEGIN DEVELOPING SBSP IMMEDIATELY-Rouge, et al ‘07
[Joseph; Acting Director, National Security Space Office; Space‐Based Solar Power
As an Opportunity for Strategic Security; 10 2007; retrieved 24 Jun 2011; http://www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/library/final-sbsp-interim-assessment-release-01.pdf]
Despite this early interim review success, there are still many more questions that must be answered before a full‐scale commercial development decision can be made. It is proposed that in the spirit of the original collaborative SBSP Study Group charter, that this interim report becomes a living document to collect, summarize, and recommend on the evolution of SBSP. The positive indicators observed to surround SBSP by this review team suggest that it would be in the US Government’s and the nation’s interest to sponsor an immediate proof‐of‐concept demonstration project and a formally funded, follow‐on architecture study conducted in full collaboration with industry and willing international partners. The purpose of a follow‐on study will be to definitively rather than speculatively answer the question of whether all of the barriers to SBSP development can be retired within the next four decades and to create an actionable business case and construction effort roadmap that will lead to the installation of utility‐grade SBSP electric power plants. Considering the development timescales that are involved, and the exponential growth of population and resource pressures within that same strategic period, it is imperative that this work for “drilling up” vs. drilling down for energy security begins immediately.
PLANNING FOR THIS COMPLEX PROJECT MUST START NOW- Gauger ‘10
[Joleroy; Energy Costs Eliminated By Satellite System; Online Journal of Space Communication; Winter 2010; http://spacejournal.ohio.edu/issue16/gauger.html; retrieved 9 August 2011]
Successfully implementing a Solar Power Satellite Program will take a multi-discipline, multi-national, geopolitical effort. Planning for that level of complexity must begin now. This article gives the principal reasons for going to space for "free power," and seeks to illustrate some of that complexity. Solar energy is "free", just like the water in a hydroelectric system. There is no cost for fuel.
The sun delivers energy to earth at the rate of 1.37 kilowatts per square meter during daylight hours. This amounts to 174 petawatts (one petawatt is 10 to the fifteenth power). About 89 petawatts reach the earth's surface. A satellite positioned in geosynchronous orbit at approximately 22,300 miles above earth (with an area of solar cells of 10 kilometers squared) will be bombarded by 13.7 gigawatts with only brief blackouts twice a year. With cell conversion efficiencies of only 10%, the electricity potentially produced will be 10 gigawatts delivered to the space-based microwave transmitter; somewhat less will be delivered to the receiver and relayed into the modified power distribution networks located near the user on earth.
Not one but several gigawatt-satellites will be required to generate the power needed over the next twenty to twenty five years. The continuing degradation of the environment accelerated by population growth, our inadequate efforts to balance carbon-based fuels with those from "green" sources and the increasing worldwide gross national product is good reason to get started with a program of energy from space.
SOLVENCY: OTHER NATIONS WILL DEPLOY SBSP
SBSP IS INEVITABLE TECHNOLOGY THAT SOMEONE WILL DEVELOP-Atkinson ‘09
[Nancy; staff writer; New Company Looks to Produce Space Power Within a Decade; Universe Today; 18 Feb 2009; http://www.universetoday.com/25754/new-company-looks-to-produce-space-based-solar-power-within-a-decade/#more-25754; retrieved 17 June 2011]
SBSP has ability to literally change the course of history, and impact the quality of life for people everywhere. Sage said this project is an entrepreneurs’ dream.
“I speak for our entire team here, we’re not just focused on how much money are we going to make,” Sage said. “We’re focused on the fact that this is an inevitable technology and someone is going to do it. Right now we’re the best shot. We’re also focused on the fact that, according to every scenario we’ve analyzed, the world needs space based solar power, and it needs it soon, as well as the up-scaling of just about every other source of renewable energy that we can get our hands on.”
“Space based solar power will happen whether we crack cold fusion, or whether we suddenly go to 80% efficiency on ground based solar power (currently its only at 50%),” Sage continued. “It has to happen based on the nature on what it is. With that in mind, I’ve been willing to put everything I have on the line to be able to make this work, and that was three years, ago. To see how far we’ve come in the past six to eight months has been amazing.”
“This is going to happen.”
IF THE USE FAILS TO LEAD NOW ON SBSP, ANOTHER NATION WILL-Cramer Shea ‘10
[Karen; M.A. Science Technology and Public Policy with Specialty in Space Policy from the George Washington University; Why Has SPS R&D Received So Little Funding?; Online Journal of Space Communication; Winter 2010; http://spacejournal.ohio.edu/issue16/shea.html; retrieved 24 Jun 2011]
The time is now for the development of space solar power. If the U.S. government commits to it as a matter of public policy, a new SPS industry will emerge, repaying the public investment many times over. If the U.S. does not do so, Japan, China, India or Russia will take the lead in space solar power development and the U.S. will continue to send billions of dollars a year abroad to insure that our energy needs are met.
JAPAN PLANS TO DEPLOY A SYSTEM BY 2040-Fukada ‘01
[Takahiro; staff writer; Japan Plans To Launch Solar Power Station In Space By 2040; Space Daily; 31 Jan 2001; http://www.spacedaily.com/news/ssp-01a.html; retrieved 17 Jun 2011]
Undaunted by its less than glorious track record in space, Japan's ministry of economy, trade and industry (METI) has ambitious plans to launch a giant solar power station by 2040.
"We are starting research for a solar power generation satellite from fiscal year 2001 in April," Osamu Takenouchi, of METI's airplane, weapons and space industry division told AFP.
"We are planning to start operating the system in 2040," Takenouchi added.
EUROPE’S LARGEST SPACE COMPANY IS PLANNING A DEMONSTRATION-Edwards ‘10
[Lin; European space company wants solar power plant in space; Physorg.com; 21 Jan 2010;
http://www.physorg.com/news183278937.html; retrieved 17 Jun 2011]
EADS Astrium, Europe's biggest space company, plans to put a solar power satellite in orbit to demonstrate the collection of solar power in space and its transmission via infrared laser to provide electricity on Earth.
Chief executive officer of Astrium, François Auque, said the system is at the testing stage, but that a viable system collecting and transmitting power from space could be within reach soon. Auque said space solar power is an attractive idea because it is an inexhaustible and clean form of energy. Unlike solar plants on Earth, orbital solar collectors can work around the clock, and there is no interference from clouds or atmospheric dusts or gases, which means the energy hitting photovoltaic cells in orbit is much greater than it would be for the same panels on the ground.
A SMALL NUMBER OF COMPANIES AND NATIONS PLAN TO DEPLOY SPACE-BASED POWER WITHIN A DECADE-Totty ‘09
[Michael; staff writer; Five Technologies That Could Change Everything; Wall Street Journal; 19 Oct 2009; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703746604574461342682276898.html; retrieved 23 Jun 2011]
For more than three decades, visionaries have imagined tapping solar power where the sun always shines—in space. If we could place giant solar panels in orbit around the Earth, and beam even a fraction of the available energy back to Earth, they could deliver nonstop electricity to any place on the planet.
The technology may sound like science fiction, but it's simple: Solar panels in orbit about 22,000 miles up beam energy in the form of microwaves to earth, where it's turned into electricity and plugged into the grid. (The low-powered beams are considered safe.) A ground receiving station a mile in diameter could deliver about 1,000 megawatts—enough to power on average about 1,000 U.S. homes.
The cost of sending solar collectors into space is the biggest obstacle, so it's necessary to design a system lightweight enough to require only a few launches. A handful of countries and companies aim to deliver space-based power as early as a decade from now.
JAPAN IS PLANNING TO DEPLOY A SYSTEM BY 2030-Kaplan ‘09
[Jeremy; staff; Japan to Beam Solar Power from Space on Lasers; Fox News; 09 Nov 2009; http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2009/11/09/japan-beam-solar-power-space-lasers/; retrieved 17 Jun 2011]
Japan is aiming to collect solar power in space and zap it down to Earth using laser beams or microwaves. The government has picked companies and researchers to turn the multi-billion pound dream of unlimited clean energy into reality by 2030.
Japan has few energy resources of its own and is heavily reliant on oil imports. The predicament has forced the country to become a leader in solar and other renewable energies. This year it set ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets, but its boldest plan to date is the Space Solar Power System.
It involves an array of photovoltaic dishes, reaching across several square miles, that hover in geostationary orbit outside the Earth's atmosphere.
"Since solar power is a clean and inexhaustible energy source, we believe that this system will be able to help solve the problems of energy shortage and global warming," Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, one of the project participants, said. "The sun's rays abound in space."
ADVANTAGE 1: SOLAR EXPLORATION
SBSP WILL LEAD TO ASTEROID MINING AND PERMANENT HUMAN SETTLEMENT IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM-Rouge, et al ‘07
[Joseph; Acting Director, National Security Space Office; Space‐Based Solar Power
As an Opportunity for Strategic Security; 10 2007; retrieved 24 Jun 2011; http://www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/library/final-sbsp-interim-assessment-release-01.pdf]
Several major challenges will need to be overcome to make SBSP a reality, including the creation of low‐cost space access and a supporting infrastructure system on Earth and in space. Several past studies have shown that the opportunity to export energy as the first marketable commodity from space will motivate commercial sector solutions to these challenges. The delivered commodity can be used for a variety of purposes to include base‐load terrestrial electrical power, wide‐area broadcast power, carbon‐neutral synthetic fuels production, or as an in‐space satellite energy utility. Solving these space access and operations challenges for SBSP will in turn also open space for a host of other activities that include space tourism, manufacturing, lunar or asteroid resource utilization, and eventually expansion of human presence and permanent settlement within our solar system.
THERE IS NO BETTER TECHNOLOGY TO FACILITATE EXPLORATION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM THAN SOLAR POWER SATELLITES-National Security Space Office ‘07
[Space Based Solar Power as an Opportunity for Strategic Security; National Security Space Office; 10 Oct 2007; http://www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/library/nsso.htm; retrieved 12 Jul 2011]
The SBSP Study Group found that SBSP directly supports the articulated goals of the U.S. National Space Policy and Vision for Space Exploration which seeks to promote international and commercial participation in exploration that furthers U.S. scientific, security, and economic interests, and extends human presence across the solar system.
No other opportunity so clearly offers a path to realize the Vision as articulated by Dr. Marburger, Science Advisor to the President: As I see it, questions about the vision boil down to whether we want to incorporate the Solar System in our economic sphere, or not. Our national policy, declared by President Bush and endorsed by Congress last December in the NASA authorization act, affirms that the fundamental goal of this vision is to advance U.S. scientific, security, and economic interests through a robust space exploration program. So at least for now the question has been decided in the affirmative. No other opportunity is likely to tap a multi]trillion dollar market that could provide an engine to emplace infrastructure that could truly extend human presence across the solar system and enable the use of lunar and other space resources as called for in the Vision.
SBSP WILL ALLOW HUMAN EXPANSION INTO SPACE, IMPORTANT FOR THE PERMANENT SURVIVAL OF THE SPECIES-Hsu ‘10
[Feng; Sr. Vice President Systems Engineering & Risk Management, Space Energy Group; Harnessing the Sun: Embarking on Humanity's Next Giant Leap; Online Journal of Space Communication; Winter 2010; http://spacejournal.ohio.edu/issue16/hsu.html;retrieved 23 Jun 2011]
SPS component technologies will also enable human economic expansion and settlement into space, which is important for the permanent survival of our species. To this end, a "vertical expansion of humanity" into our solar system in the new millennium can be every bit as important as the "horizontal expansion" achieved by our ancestors beginning in the 1400s. Indeed, SPS will provide a natural platform for promoting human collaboration in an area that has the potential to make a real difference in smoothing out global economy imbalances due to gross disparities in energy resources, thereby preventing inevitable confrontations. SPS can be also a major steppingstone in transforming our current combustion world economy into a sustainable and clean world economy that is solar-electric powered.
SBSP IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP FORWARD IN SPACE EXPLORATION-Flournoy ‘10
[Don; Professor of Telecommunications @Ohio University; SUNSATS: The Next Generation Of COMSATS; Online Journal of Space Communication; Winter 2010; http://spacejournal.ohio.edu/issue16/flournoy.html; retrieved 24 Jun 2011]
Figuring out how to generate energy in space and make it available on-demand anywhere on earth will be an undertaking unparalleled in human history. Its significance, in the long run, will be far greater than placing a man on the moon or building a human habitat on mars, because ready access to energy on earth (and elsewhere) is key to all exploration of the universe. Because SunSats can tap the one energy supply that cannot be depleted, any corporation or country that is in the space energy business will have a perpetual competitive advantage.
SOLAR POWER SATELLITES HAVE LONG-TERM APPLICATION FOR SPACE EXPLORATION AND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT-Zwaniecki ‘07
[Andrrzej; staff writer; Space Solar Energy Has Future; Space Daily; 21 Aug 2007]]
Mankins believes the U.S. government is likely to return to the space solar power idea because of its many potential benefits and applications, including providing power for space exploration and commercial development of space resources.
In September 2006, the House of Representatives' science subcommittee reviewed the concept as part of a hearing on climate change technologies. In addition, the Department of Defense is conducting a feasibility study of space-based solar power. The study is scheduled to be completed in September.
Nevertheless, Mankins admitted that his advocacy of the technology is somewhat romantic.
"But when you look at the kind of things we as a modern society spend billions of dollars on, [sup-porting] the idea of limitless clean energy from space is not such a bad goal," he said.
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