Space Based Solar Power

Find a need and fill it. This is what the federal government should be doing to replenish the national treasury. Well, the world needs clean, renewable energy.

The straightforward concept is to place solar panels in space and beam down the energy from space. The most likely way of beaming the energy back down is by using microwave technology. Another possibility is laser beaming. One small solar power generator could transmit one gigawatt of energy to Earth, which is about the output of a single nuclear power plant, but it is scalable! Simply build more generators/panels or build larger generators/panels until energy needs are met.

In space, solar irradiance is about eight times stronger than on Earth. Solar energy, in space, can be collected 24/7 since there is no night, and weather is not a problem because there is no weather. 1.3 Gigawatts of energy travel through every square kilometer of space around earth. There would be no pollution generated by the system. There would be no waste. It would be safe. The receptors would be out in the Gulf of Mexico, but even if people were accidentally exposed to microwaves it would not be more damaging than exposure to a microwave oven in your home kitchen. What if SBSP technology falls into the hands of terrorists? This is a major concern with nuclear power. If SBSP ever falls into the hands of terrorists then terrorists will be able to power toaster ovens, refrigerators and electric cars. Proliferation is not an issue. The physics and engineering know how are already in place.

SBSP can result in an exportable product. Either energy can be directly exported from the power grid or it can be exported as hydrogen. Screw Saudi Arabia, why not make the United States be the largest exporter of energy. There is no good reason why this is not underway. There are a couple of bad reasons. First, we have a useless bunch of punks in government. The Department of Energy and NASA have been passing management responsibility to NASA and NASA has been pushing it back to the Department of Energy. This is one of the greatest opportunities in human history and we have government agencies are basically saying, “This is hard, you do it.” Well, this is what citizens should say to NASA and DOE: “You are relieved of all management responsibility. In terms of the SBSP project you are underlings of the Department of Defense.”

This is fundamentally a defense project anyway. Energy security is extremely important and potentially a killer for our civilization. Our war making capability depends on energy. Fossil fuels threaten the planet and, therefore, threaten our defense. Our ability to grow our economy and afford national defense and homeland security depends on energy availability. With Space Based Solar Power the military would have the option of bypassing supply lines and beaming the energy directly to the conflict theater. This is a Department of Defense project and DOD should tell NASA and DOE exactly when to jump and how high.

The second bad reason that SBSP is not underway already is that we need better and cheaper space faring. Frontierism requires that space vehicles be constructed on assembly lines using the skills and even the facilities of the auto and heavy equipment industries. We cannot be content to build one vehicle at a time. This is another justification for making this a DOD function. DOD needs to be heavily involved in the construction of space vehicles in any case, for national security reasons, so why not just put them in charge of design and development?

Because the biggest obstacle to SBSP is the cost of access to space, there will be temptations to make deals with the private sector to gain funding. While this would reduce the initial costs of the project, this would make it useless as a Social Libertarian Frontierism. The end is not the development of SBSP, the end is the use of SBSP as a profit center to eliminate the national debt and help in the elimination of the income tax and the capital gains tax. Shared risk means shared profits. The objection that this might be done more efficiently by the private sector is offset by the government need for wealth and by the fact that any private involvement would essentially be making the profits international. Legally, there could not be a provision that prevents foreign ownership of stock in private sector entities. International involvement decreases the security advantages of SBSP such as the economic and battlefield advantages. This argument also holds with cooperation with other governments on this project. SBSP should be a socialist project. The means of production and the control of the project need to be public.