Military Looks at Space Based Solar Power Generation

[Tuckerfan]

Though they’re not certain they’ll actually do it.

The Pentagon’s National Security Space Office (NSSO) may begin a study in the near future on the possibility of using satellites to collect solar energy for use on Earth, according to Defense Department officials.

The officials said the study does not mean that the military plans to demonstrate or deploy a space-based solar power constellation. However, as the Pentagon looks at a variety of alternative energy sources, this could be one possible method of supplying energy to troops in bases or on the battlefield, they said.

The military’s work in this area also could aid development of a system that could provide energy to non-military users as well, according to Lt. Col. Michael Hornitschek, chief of rated force policy on the Air Force staff at the Pentagon.

Hornitschek, who has been exploring the concept of space-based solar power in his spare time, recently briefed the NSSO on the concept of space-based solar power, and stimulated interest in conducting a formal study, according to Lt. Col. M.V. “Coyote” Smith, chief of future concepts at the NSSO. The NSSO would need to find the financial resources and available manpower to conduct the study, Smith said.

Of course, it’ll be 20 years before we actually see it happen if they decide to do it.

[Sage_Rat]

For as much as I would be for any sort of future-tech, I have to say that I would doubt that this is a particularly realistic study. More of something to pull out of your pocket every twenty years and go, “Can we do it yet? Nope.” Wait twenty more years.

At core, there are three issues with trying this:

1. You’d have to get a buttload of materials into outerspace before you could get enough energy worth talking about.
2. They would have to be, essentially, indestructable and never fail since there’s a bunch of stuff zinging around in space and sending a fixit guy costs a few million dollars.
3. How do you get the power down and to the troops? Even with a space ladder, you’ll only have one place that that power comes down to. You’d still have to fly batteries to wherever the troops are.

Now, admittedly, you could just shoot some mirrors into space and then target those on the troops so that they could use solar panels where they are, with increased light, but that’s about it.

[Tuckerfan]

@Sage Rat

For as much as I would be for any sort of future-tech, I have to say that I would doubt that this is a particularly realistic study. More of something to pull out of your pocket every twenty years and go, “Can we do it yet? Nope.” Wait twenty more years.

At core, there are three issues with trying this:

1. You’d have to get a buttload of materials into outerspace before you could get enough energy worth talking about.

Not necessarily. If we had a lunar base with the right equipment, they could manufacture the stuff there and ship it to LEO. This would use less fuel than shipping it up from Earth.

2. They would have to be, essentially, indestructable and never fail since there’s a bunch of stuff zinging around in space and sending a fixit guy costs a few million dollars.

Well, the next stage of the X-Prize is getting people to orbit for less than what NASA can do it for, so repairs might not be that expensive and if you build in enough over capacity the loss of some panels won’t be that big of an issue.

3. How do you get the power down and to the troops? Even with a space ladder, you’ll only have one place that that power comes down to. You’d still have to fly batteries to wherever the troops are.

Microwave transmitters. IIRC, NASA’s got an electric plane flying that they beam power to via microwave. Certainly, the standard plan I’ve seen when this has been discussed has been to beam the energy to Earth via microwave transmissions.

[Lumpy]

Isn’t this a rehash of the O’Neil powersat/orbital colony concept that was proposed back in the 1970s?

[Tuckerfan]

Certainly reads like it.