Citizen's for Space Based Solar Power Open Letter to OSTP

Here is the clincher: The idea for convening a Space Based Solar Power Conference was the number one idea supported on OpenOSTP, OpenEnergy and OpenNASA!!!


Rob Mahan
Here is my e-mailed comment on the OSTP Open Government Report, released on April 7, 2010:

To: intheopen@ostp.gov

Subject: OSTP Open Government Plan 4/7/2010 Report - Comment... See More

Dear OSTP:

I take exception to the statements about OSTP not receiving "particularly robust participation" and the paragraph on Page 22 of the subject report, which states:

While the input received via Ideascale was helpful, it was not always in a form that would easily translate for implementation. For example, someone suggested that we convene a Space Solar Power Conference. Whatever the merits of the suggestion, the format is too short to allow for any detail or specifics. The brainstorming format—although an excellent way to get new ideas quickly—is not well suited to longer postings. This is why we are working on two flagship initiatives to foster more in-depth forms of citizen participation.

These statements appear to trivialize the concept of Space Base Solar Power, which in my humble opinion, will be the primary source of energy for the entire planet within the next 50 to 100 years. The United States needs to decide which agency is going to take the lead for its development and integration with private industry partners.

Perhaps the reason that participation didn't seem robust was that 27 different agencies with often overlapping charters all ran IdeaScale websites for public comment at the same time ... and didn't do a good job at making the public aware of the window for participation, as the OSTP report states.

The idea for convening a Space Based Solar Power Conference was the number one idea supported on OpenOSTP, OpenEnergy and OpenNASA. Here are the participation statistics for each of these websites:

OpenOSTP: Ideas Posted 30 Comments 34 Votes 217 Users 133

OpenEnergy: Ideas Posted 63 Comments 74 Votes 571 Users 257

OpenNASA: Ideas Posted 420 Comments 868 Votes 8098 Users 1271

To have the idea of convening a Space Based Solar Power Conference come in first out of 513 total ideas posted, with a total of 74 detailed comments, at these threepublic participation websites in a short period of time, with nearly 10,000 total votes cast, indicates that this idea has strong public support and needs to be taken very seriously.

Please take my comments as constructive criticism and as support for the development and deployment of space-based solar power. I honestly believe it is the best solution to the energy crisis we face today. It will be a multi-administration, multi-generation project that needs to be started without further delay.

Best regards,

Rob Mahan
Citizens for Space Based Solar Power