From: Ram Narayanan <ramn_wins@roadrunner.com>
Subject: A POSSIBLE BIG TICKET ITEM FOR THE OBAMA VISIT
To: Undisclosed-Recipient@yahoo.com
Date: Sunday, 10 October, 2010, 7:04 AM
Dear Friends:
A keen observer of US-India relations writes:
"Based on several conversations in the last two weeks in Washington, it’s obvious that teams of dedicated government officials are working very, very hard in advance of President Obama’s trip to India to make it a success. Much effort is being expended to break down interagency barriers on previously trenchant issues. One expects positive developments could be seen in areas such as export control and the Entities List." "As the search for big ideas continues, one of the focus areas for the future of security dialog is likely going to be security of the ’Global Commons’. India and the US can and must work together as large democracies to set norms for behavior in the Commons."
"In the context of ’big ideas’, IDSA recently released a paper by USAF Lt. Col. Peter Garretson, who was visiting on a Council on Foreign Relations fellowship. The paper suggests solar satellites as a joint project between the US and India as a possible vehicle to take the partnership to the next level. "
"This is the type of big idea that both bureaucracies and political decision-makers could get their arms around as being ’unique’. In the initial phases, the study of the applicability of such technology to Indian and American needs, as well as its export potential, would not be prohibitive and on the Indian side could interest entities like BHEL and ISRO."
Peter A. Garretson was a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) International Fellow in India, and a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) New Delhi. He is an active duty Air Force officer on sabbatical as an Air Force Fellow. He was previously the Chief of Future Science and Technology Exploration for Headquarters Air Force, Directorate of Strategic Plans and Programs, and is a former DARPA Service Chiefs’ Intern, and former Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Service Academy Research Associate. He is a published author on Space Grand Strategy, and is a recipient of the National Space Society’s (NSS) Space Pioneer Award.
His paper is titled,
"Sky’s no limit: Space-based Solar Power, the next
major step in the Indo-US Strategic Partnership".
The paper "provides a policymaker’s overview of a highly scalable, revolutionary, renewable energy technology, Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP), and evaluates its utility within the context of the Indo-US strategic partnership. After providing an overview of the concept and its significance to the compelling problems of sustainable growth, economic development, energy security and climate change, it evaluates the utility of the concept in the context of respective Indian and US political context and energy-climate trajectories. The paper concludes that a bilateral initiative to develop Space-Based Solar Power is highly consistent with the objectives of the Indo-US strategic partnership, and ultimately recommends an actionable three-tiered programme to realize its potential."
The paper can be read at http://www.idsa.in/sites/default/files/OP_SkysNoLimit.pdf
Cheers,
Ram Narayanan
US-India Friendship http://www.usindiafriendship.net/
Showing posts with label Indo-US partnership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indo-US partnership. Show all posts
10 October 2010
25 September 2010
More on India USA Space Based Solar Power
Earlier I reported on the New IDSA-CFR Paper Proposing a Joint Space Solar Power Program:
http://www.idsa.in/occasionalpapers/SkysNoLimit_pgarretson_2010
http://www.cfr.org/publication/22918/skys_no_limit.html
And that it had been endorsed by the National Space Society:
http://www.nss.org/news/releases/pr20100913.pdf
I had also re-posted several articles reviewing the paper:
"India-US space-based solar power programme urged" which occurred across a number of news outlets across India, and "India-US space-based solar power plan could solve major energy issues - study" from ADP news, and "Making the Case An Indo-USA Space-Based Solar Power Programme"
From:
American Indian Solar Space Partnership
Wednesday, 22 September 2010 GreenMuze Staff
An Indian Defense Ministry-backed report suggests a joint US$10 billion (€7.65 billion) Indian-US space based solar power generation program would be good for political relations as well as reducing greenhouse gases. US Air Force lieutenant colonel Peter Garretson, in conjunction with the Institute of Defense Studies, New Delhi (India), wrote a report recommending the Indian and US governments forge a strategic partnership to make space-based solar energy commercially viable by 2025. President Obama’s November visit to India may be the venue to announce the partnership.
The proposal is to have a five year pre-program development program, costing US$10-30 million (€7.65 - €22.96 million) to eliminate risk and to identify the advanced technology needed for the project. Followed by a US$10 billion (€7.65 billion), ten year international project to design, manufacture, and launch an orbital solar power generation system.
Since India and the US are both major greenhouse gas emitters, developing technology that will reduce their emissions is seen as a progressive approach to dealing with climate change. India has great solar power potential but scarce land areas to implement it, while the US would like to be a world leader in the renewable energy and, being a late entrant in the field, needs to play catch up.
A space-based system therefore seems to fit into the plans of both countries. For India, it is a potential major international step up, and a great opportunity to grow in stature in Asia, and counter China’s growing influence. Unfortunately, politics always gets in the way, and India has yet to sign the Missile Technology Control Regime, meant to prevent the spread of missile technology. The US is concerned about the spread of nuclear weapons technology (such as from Pakistan to North Korea) and nuclear weapons delivery systems.
In a world facing great uncertainty due to the causes, effects and consequences of global climate change, it seems the last thing that we need is to add in global politics that are likely to muddy the waters and likely add greater risk of projects failing to deliver on their clean energy promises.
From: http://overseasindian.in/2010/sept/news/20101409-095018.shtml
India-US solar power initiative urged
Bengaluru, Sep 14 India and the U.S. should explore the feasibility of a space-based solar power (SBSP) programme with the ultimate aim of putting in place a commercially viable system by 2025, a report by a Defence Ministry funded think tank says.
There is, however, a catch. India would first have to accede to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) before the system is put in place, says the report that has been prepared by Peter Garretson, a US Air Force lieutenant colonel on a sabbatical as an international fellow at the New Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).
Noting that SBSP can be "the next major step in the Indo-US strategic partnership", the 174-page report says the launch of such a potentially revolutionary programme can begin with a joint statement by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and U.S. President Barak Obama during the latter's visit to New Delhi in November.
Besides helping to "solve the linked problems of energy security, development and climate change", the SBSP will provide an opportunity for India to use its successful space programme while shaping a future peaceful space regime, Garretson said.
He has proposed a three-tiered programme, moving from basic technology and capacity building to a multi-lateral demonstrator and ultimately to an international commercial public-private-partnership entity to supply commercial power in the 2025 timeframe.
The report concludes that SBSP "does appear to be a good fit for the U.S. domestic, Indian domestic and bilateral agendas, and there are adequate political space and precursor agreements to begin a bilateral programme".
Expanding on the three-stage plan, Garretson says an initial five-year $10-30 million programme will develop contributing technologies and build a competent work force culminating in a roadmap for a demonstration prototype.
A second, $10 billion, 10-year phase will see the formation of an international consortium to construct a sub-scale space solar power system that can directly be scaled up by industry. The final stage will entail India-US leadership to set up an international for-profit consortium along the lines of the INTELSAT model to address energy security and carbon mitigation concerns.
"The overall program goal must be to enable, by 2025, space-based solar power as a viable economic replacement for fossil fuel energy, and second, to position the US and Indian technical and industrial bases to enjoy a competitive edge in what is expected to be a significant and profitable market," the report says.
Garretson says that the U.S. and India have demonstrated via a number of recent steps that they are ready for a deeper partnership, inclusive of sensitive and strategic technology in space and energy.
"An international SBSP demo project is within reach of present engineering and mega science budgets, and can be done with existing launch vehicles," he says.
From the US side, the programme can be managed out of the Department of State's Office of Ocean Environment and Science with funds coming from the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy. On the Indian side, the report says, the high-level oversight can be provided by the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change.
According to the report, such a programme linking the technical bases of the world's largest democracies might be a way out of India's (and the world's) climate-energy dilemma.
"It will also become one of the grandest and most ambitious humanitarian and environmentalist causes that will be sure to excite a generation as did the Apollo program that put a man on the moon," the report says.
"If there is a desire to pursue simultaneous development of low cost access to orbit, then the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) assurance document must be signed (by India)," the report says.
India has thus far resolutely declined to sign the MTCR, terming it discriminatory.
It is also important that direct engagement with United Nations governance bodies will be required, even before the demonstration stage, "to cope with the significantly increased traffic to and from and in space", the report says.
From: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.bnrenergia.it/leggi_news.asp%3Fid%3D1208&ei=CxWeTLuWOsKBlAfK94CnCg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEUQ7gEwBg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dindia%2BUS%2Bspace%2Bsolar%2Bpower%2Bsite:.it%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3D4iC%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26tbs%3Dqdr:m
India and U.S., the future rulers of the photovoltaic space?
A new brick could be added to the long history of scientific cooperation between two of the biggest polluters in the world. A report published by the Indian Ministry of Defence suggests that the two countries can pave the way for a program to use solar energy in orbit
(Rinnovabili.it) - A great opportunity for collaboration and growth in the energy is introduced to India and the U.S. to jointly launch a program to capture solar energy in space to be transformed into a commercially viable by 2025 . To support and the report compiled by Peter Garretson, a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel who worked in collaboration with the Institute for Research and Defense Analysis in New Delhi.
The report calls on the governments of both countries to extend their strategic partnership, already well proven in the field of an astronaut on a pioneering project to harness the solar energy in space. A program that dell'SBSP (Space-Based Solar Power), truly revolutionary not only for bilateral relations between India and the United States but for all the objectives of energy security, supply and fight against Climate Change in it. Both, in fact, affected by the pressure from several fronts on the production of greenhouse gas emissions and seek new and innovative sources of clean energy supply has become the 'gold rush' of these years
The authors are also firmly convinced that the program provides the opportunity to win New Delhi to move forward in its perpetual competition with China.
The idea contained in 174 pages is that which is already the currency
Japan
Pacific Gas & Electric Pacific Gas & Electric
Position in geostationary orbit solar collectors can gather solar radiation, 24 h 24 h with an efficiency much higher than the unitary ground installations, and then be sent back to earth via microwaves.
Garretson proposes a three-level, through the development of technology demonstrator based on a multi-lateral, to the creation of an international body based on a public-private partnership for commercial energy supply by the year 2025.
For the Asian giant, however, there is an obstacle, well outlined in the report, the failure to adhere to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) - India considered discriminatory -, however, a delicate issue at the international level. Once approved, the MTCR, the author explains, the operation of the program would require "only" an initial funding in the order of 10-30 million dollars to cover a period of 5 years and 10 billion dollars for the next decade .
From: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.greenme.it/informarsi/energie-rinnovabili/3080-fotovoltaico-spaziale-nel-2025-partira-un-maxi-programma-congiunto-usa-india&ei=CxWeTLuWOsKBlAfK94CnCg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CE8Q7gEwCQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dindia%2BUS%2Bspace%2Bsolar%2Bpower%2Bsite:.it%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3D4iC%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26tbs%3Dqdr:m
Photovoltaic space: in 2025 will start a joint program maxi USA - India?
Martedì 21 Settembre 2010 15:11 Scritto da Piergiorgio Pescarolo Tuesday, September 21, 2010 15:11 Written by Piergiorgio Pescarolo
fotovoltaico_spaziale
Allies in a big program calendar to be launched into space by 2025. . E 'can be the result of a technical partnership to address eco friendly between India and U.S. , and which would, in fifteen years, creating a system of commercial exploitation of space photovoltaics .
He informed these days, a report conducted by Peter Garretson , Lieutenant-Colonel 's U.S. Air Force, who worked together to' study for the Institute for Defense Analyses and New Delhi, on the development a joint project between the two powers. More specifically, the report indicates a request to be made to both governments (India and the USA) to verify the conditions for the extension of a partnership in exploiting the ' solar energy in space for which has already been identified Name: SBSP ( Space-Based Solar Power ).
On a technical level, the project includes the placement of solar collectors in geostationary orbit, which are able to capture the sun's radiation, and send them to Earth via a microwave system. The procurement, in that case, would be constant (24 hours out of 24) and lead to significantly higher efficiency when compared with terrestrial plants.
This would be an extension of the strategic alliance already in place in the field of aerospace, and which - if implemented - could prove to be innovative in the political relationship between the U.S. and India, and for the purposes ecologic and contained in the report: in it, In fact, we speak of the need for energy security of supply and climate change all "voices" to which both countries should take into account. If for no other reason than the economic aspect of the matter: the field of research and development in renewable energy is the most important frontier in the economy in recent years.
The "Indian side," however, will be prejudiced by not adhering to the Missile Technology Control Plan (MTCR - Missile Technology Control Regime), India believes that it is discriminatory and that, internationally, an issue to be addressed carefully.
Lieutenant Colonel Garretson, however, assumed - once past this obstacle - even the need for financial supply for the project: a first tranche of funding (albeit nebulous, since it indicates an amount ranging from 10 to 30 million dollars) for the first 5 years, and a second appropriation (listed in the $ 10 billion) would cover the next decade.
Piergiorgio Pescarolo Piergiorgio Pescarolo
http://www.idsa.in/occasionalpapers/SkysNoLimit_pgarretson_2010
http://www.cfr.org/publication/22918/skys_no_limit.html
And that it had been endorsed by the National Space Society:
http://www.nss.org/news/releases/pr20100913.pdf
I had also re-posted several articles reviewing the paper:
"India-US space-based solar power programme urged" which occurred across a number of news outlets across India, and "India-US space-based solar power plan could solve major energy issues - study" from ADP news, and "Making the Case An Indo-USA Space-Based Solar Power Programme"
By Bill Moore In EV World, and the review on the SpaceEnergy Newsletter. Don Flournoy's piece "Why Not Space Solar Power" also amplified India's possible partnership role.
One can now also find earlier references, including this interview in the Times of India:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/interviews/Space-based-solar-power-could-solve-energy-crisis/articleshow/4759530.cms
http://m.timesofindia.com/PDATOI/articleshow/4759530.cms
http://www.pugwashindia.org/article_detail.asp?aid=198
http://www.punemirror.in/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News%20-%20City§id=2&contentid=20090413200904130234463648ecfff86
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CCoQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tifr.res.in%2F~aset%2Ffull_text%2FFT_2009%2FSpace-Based%2520Solar%2520Power--The%2520Opportunity%2520of%2520a%2520Century%2520Indian%2520Tech%2520Societies%2520(IIT%2520Madrass).pdf&rct=j&q=garretson%20india%20space%20solar%20power&ei=5BGeTM2gD4a8lQfRybDsAg&usg=AFQjCNF1CIhSehLCAwkOj6QDLHAqFTmetQ&sig2=Q3pwYCo66VmuXRE6yYBJOQ&cad=rja
Now, several New articles have appeared:
For Instance:
"Report proposes Indo US space based solar energy program by 2025" in EcoFriend
"Multilateral Space-based Solar Energy Program Led by India, US Proposed" in Scientific American & Clean Technica
"Missile Man of India" in Hollywood Issues
"New Report Asks US and India to Take Solar Energy Into Space" in CleanTechies
"American Indian Solar Space Partnership" in GreenMuze
"India-US solar power initiative urged" in Overseas Indian
"India and U.S., the future rulers of the photovoltaic space?" bnrenergia.it
"Photovoltaic space: in 2025 will start a joint program maxi USA - India?" greenme.it
"Photovoltaic space: in 2025 will start a joint program maxi USA - India?" greenme.it
From: http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/report-proposes-indo-us-space-based-solar-energy-program-by-2025/
Report proposes Indo US space based solar energy program by 2025
Sukhmani | Sep 20 2010
Eco Factor: Report proposes space-based solar energy programs to meet energy needs.
A report published by an Indian Defense ministry-backed think tank has proposed the establishment of an Indo –US international space-based solar energy program. Is this ever happens it could well become the second most important deal inked by the two nations ever since the signing of the nuclear deal. The project envisages the establishment of solar collectors in geostationary orbit to collect solar radiation throughout the year even during the night. The energy laden microwaves would then be transmitted to ground based collectors. If initiated the path breaking could become a commercially viable business venture by 2025.
The massive project holds great significance for both countries apart from taking their strategic relationship forward. Both the countries have gigantic energy needs and are under immense international pressure to own up and reduce their carbon emissions. Fortunately both are blessed in terms of solar energy sources which all the more sense why they seriously work on the project.
Sukhmani | Sep 20 2010
Eco Factor: Report proposes space-based solar energy programs to meet energy needs.
A report published by an Indian Defense ministry-backed think tank has proposed the establishment of an Indo –US international space-based solar energy program. Is this ever happens it could well become the second most important deal inked by the two nations ever since the signing of the nuclear deal. The project envisages the establishment of solar collectors in geostationary orbit to collect solar radiation throughout the year even during the night. The energy laden microwaves would then be transmitted to ground based collectors. If initiated the path breaking could become a commercially viable business venture by 2025.
The massive project holds great significance for both countries apart from taking their strategic relationship forward. Both the countries have gigantic energy needs and are under immense international pressure to own up and reduce their carbon emissions. Fortunately both are blessed in terms of solar energy sources which all the more sense why they seriously work on the project.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=multilateral-space-based-solar-ener-2010-09
http://cleantechnica.com/2010/09/18/multilateral-space-based-solar-energy-program-led-by-india-us-proposed/
Multilateral Space-based Solar Energy Program Led by India, US Proposed
September 18, 2010 in Clean Energy, Policy, Solar Energy, Space
Mridul Chadha
Student, Environmental Engineer, Writer
A report published by an Indian Defense ministry-backed think tank has proposed for the establishment of an international space-based solar energy program with India and the United States initiating this massive project. The report is prepared by Peter Garretson, a US Air Force lieutenant colonel, working with the Institue of Defense Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. The reports calls for the Indian and the United States’ governments to extend their strategic partnerships to initiate this pathbreaking project and make the space-based solar energy a commercially viable business venture by 2025.
The report proposes that the two countries should wait no more and kick start the project through a joint statement during President Obama’s visit to India in November. The author of the report has proposed a three-tiered approach for the implementation of the program.
Expanding on the three-stage plan, Garretson says an initial five-year $10-30 million programme will develop contributing technologies and build a competent work force culminating in a roadmap for a demonstration prototype.
A second, $10 billion, 10-year phase will see the formation of an international consortium to construct a sub-scale space solar power system that can directly be scaled up by industry. The final stage will entail India-US leadership to set up an international for-profit consortium along the lines of the INTELSAT model to address energy security and carbon mitigation concerns.
Energy and Climate Change
Both India and the United States are among the top five greenhouse gas emitters in the world. Both are under immense pressure to curb their carbon emissions production. While India is being pressurized to cut back on its carbon emissions resulting from its rapidly growing industrial and power sector, the United States is constantly being reminded of its historical responsibility to reduce its carbon emissions.
India needs to expand its power generation capacity in order to maintain a high economic growth rate and improve the living standards of its billion plus population. While India is immensely blessed in terms of solar energy resources, the problem land availability to execute large-scale solar energy power plants is one of the major hurdles in a comprehensive solar energy infrastructure expansion.
Space-based solar power, therefore, seems to be a great choice for India. Space-based solar collectors placed in a geostationary orbit can collect solar radiation for 99 percent time of the year and even during the night. This radiation would be then transmitted to ground-based collectors in the form of microwaves. These microwaves would have far more energy than the normal radiation we receive on the earth’s surface.
Strategic Advantage
Such a project can reap tremendous scientific and strategic benefits for both the countries. India is an emerging global power especially in Asia, looking to counter China’s increasing influence and might in the region. United States is desperately looking for new partners in Asia as Japan seems no longer capable of countering China’s increasing economic, military and strategic prowess.
The Catch
The author of the report has specified that in order to ensure the successful execution of this ambitious program India would have to sign the Missile Technology Control Regime which prevents the proliferation of missile technology. India has thus far refused to sign the MTCR. Perhaps, realizing the strategic and energy-related advantages of this projects the two countries can work out a solution similar to the Indo-US nuclear deal which gave India access to nuclear fuel and technology even though it is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
India and the United States have long history of space science cooperation. The United States helped the Indian Space Research Organization to help launch some of India’s earliest satellites in 1970s. Earlier this year, the two countries signed a historic agreement allowing ISRO to launch non-commercial, US-made satellites. It was NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper riding on India’s first unmanned moon orbiter, Chandryaan-1, that detected the presence of water ice on the moon in 2009.
Image: NASA
The views presented in the above article are author’s personal views and do not represent those of TERI/TERI University where the author is currently pursuing a Master’s degree.
September 18, 2010 in Clean Energy, Policy, Solar Energy, Space
Mridul Chadha
Student, Environmental Engineer, Writer
A report published by an Indian Defense ministry-backed think tank has proposed for the establishment of an international space-based solar energy program with India and the United States initiating this massive project. The report is prepared by Peter Garretson, a US Air Force lieutenant colonel, working with the Institue of Defense Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. The reports calls for the Indian and the United States’ governments to extend their strategic partnerships to initiate this pathbreaking project and make the space-based solar energy a commercially viable business venture by 2025.
The report proposes that the two countries should wait no more and kick start the project through a joint statement during President Obama’s visit to India in November. The author of the report has proposed a three-tiered approach for the implementation of the program.
Expanding on the three-stage plan, Garretson says an initial five-year $10-30 million programme will develop contributing technologies and build a competent work force culminating in a roadmap for a demonstration prototype.
A second, $10 billion, 10-year phase will see the formation of an international consortium to construct a sub-scale space solar power system that can directly be scaled up by industry. The final stage will entail India-US leadership to set up an international for-profit consortium along the lines of the INTELSAT model to address energy security and carbon mitigation concerns.
Energy and Climate Change
Both India and the United States are among the top five greenhouse gas emitters in the world. Both are under immense pressure to curb their carbon emissions production. While India is being pressurized to cut back on its carbon emissions resulting from its rapidly growing industrial and power sector, the United States is constantly being reminded of its historical responsibility to reduce its carbon emissions.
India needs to expand its power generation capacity in order to maintain a high economic growth rate and improve the living standards of its billion plus population. While India is immensely blessed in terms of solar energy resources, the problem land availability to execute large-scale solar energy power plants is one of the major hurdles in a comprehensive solar energy infrastructure expansion.
Space-based solar power, therefore, seems to be a great choice for India. Space-based solar collectors placed in a geostationary orbit can collect solar radiation for 99 percent time of the year and even during the night. This radiation would be then transmitted to ground-based collectors in the form of microwaves. These microwaves would have far more energy than the normal radiation we receive on the earth’s surface.
Strategic Advantage
Such a project can reap tremendous scientific and strategic benefits for both the countries. India is an emerging global power especially in Asia, looking to counter China’s increasing influence and might in the region. United States is desperately looking for new partners in Asia as Japan seems no longer capable of countering China’s increasing economic, military and strategic prowess.
The Catch
The author of the report has specified that in order to ensure the successful execution of this ambitious program India would have to sign the Missile Technology Control Regime which prevents the proliferation of missile technology. India has thus far refused to sign the MTCR. Perhaps, realizing the strategic and energy-related advantages of this projects the two countries can work out a solution similar to the Indo-US nuclear deal which gave India access to nuclear fuel and technology even though it is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
India and the United States have long history of space science cooperation. The United States helped the Indian Space Research Organization to help launch some of India’s earliest satellites in 1970s. Earlier this year, the two countries signed a historic agreement allowing ISRO to launch non-commercial, US-made satellites. It was NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper riding on India’s first unmanned moon orbiter, Chandryaan-1, that detected the presence of water ice on the moon in 2009.
Image: NASA
The views presented in the above article are author’s personal views and do not represent those of TERI/TERI University where the author is currently pursuing a Master’s degree.
From: http://www.hollywoodissues.com/tag/council
Missile Man of India: Latest News Updates India and the US should explore the feasibility of a space-based solar power (SBSP) programme with the ultimate aim of putting in place a commercially viable system by 2025, a report by a defence ministry funded think tank says.
There is, however, a catch. India would first have to accede to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) before the system is put in place, says the report that has been prepared by Peter Garretson, a US Air Force lieutenant colonel on a sabbatical as an international fellow at the New Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).
Noting that SBSP can be ‘the next major step in the Indo-US strategic partnership’, the 174-page report says the launch of such a potentially revolutionary programme can begin with a joint statement by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barak Obama during the latter’s visit to New Delhi in November.
Besides helping to ’solve the linked problems of energy security, development and climate change’, the SBSP will provide an opportunity for India to use its successful space programme while shaping a future peaceful space regime, Garretson said.
He has proposed a three-tiered programme, moving from basic technology and capacity building to a multi-lateral demonstrator and ultimately to an international commercial public-private-partnership entity to supply commercial power in the 2025 timeframe.
The report concludes that SBSP ‘does appear to be a good fit for the US domestic, Indian domestic and bilateral agendas, and there are adequate political space and precursor agreements to begin a bilateral program’.
Expanding on the three-stage plan, Garretson says an initial five-year $10-30 million programme will develop contributing technologies and build a competent work force culminating in a roadmap for a demonstration prototype.
A second, $10 billion, 10-year phase will see the formation of an international consortium to construct a sub-scale space solar power system that can directly be scaled up by industry. The final stage will entail India-US leadership to set up an international for-profit consortium along the lines of the INTELSAT model to address energy security and carbon mitigation concerns.
‘The overall program goal must be to enable, by 2025, space-based solar power as a viable economic replacement for fossil fuel energy, and second, to position the US and Indian technical and industrial bases to enjoy a competitive edge in what is expected to be a significant and profitable market,’ the report says.
Garretson says that the US and India have demonstrated via a number of recent steps that they are ready for a deeper partnership, inclusive of sensitive and strategic technology in space and energy.
‘An international SBSP demo project is within reach of present engineering and mega science budgets, and can be done with existing launch vehicles,’ he says.
From the US side, the programme can be managed out of the Department of State’s Office of Ocean Environment and Science with funds coming from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy. On the Indian side, the report says, the high-level oversight can be provided by the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change.
According to the report, such a programme linking the technical bases of the world’s largest democracies might be a way out of India’s (and the world’s) climate-energy dilemma.
‘It will also become one of the grandest and most ambitious humanitarian and environmentalist causes that will be sure to excite a generation as did the Apollo program that put a man on the moon,’ the report says.
There is, however, a catch. India would first have to accede to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) before the system is put in place, says the report that has been prepared by Peter Garretson, a US Air Force lieutenant colonel on a sabbatical as an international fellow at the New Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).Noting that SBSP can be ‘the next major step in the Indo-US strategic partnership’, the 174-page report says the launch of such a potentially revolutionary programme can begin with a joint statement by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barak Obama during the latter’s visit to New Delhi in November.
Besides helping to ’solve the linked problems of energy security, development and climate change’, the SBSP will provide an opportunity for India to use its successful space programme while shaping a future peaceful space regime, Garretson said.
He has proposed a three-tiered programme, moving from basic technology and capacity building to a multi-lateral demonstrator and ultimately to an international commercial public-private-partnership entity to supply commercial power in the 2025 timeframe.
The report concludes that SBSP ‘does appear to be a good fit for the US domestic, Indian domestic and bilateral agendas, and there are adequate political space and precursor agreements to begin a bilateral program’.
Expanding on the three-stage plan, Garretson says an initial five-year $10-30 million programme will develop contributing technologies and build a competent work force culminating in a roadmap for a demonstration prototype.
A second, $10 billion, 10-year phase will see the formation of an international consortium to construct a sub-scale space solar power system that can directly be scaled up by industry. The final stage will entail India-US leadership to set up an international for-profit consortium along the lines of the INTELSAT model to address energy security and carbon mitigation concerns.
‘The overall program goal must be to enable, by 2025, space-based solar power as a viable economic replacement for fossil fuel energy, and second, to position the US and Indian technical and industrial bases to enjoy a competitive edge in what is expected to be a significant and profitable market,’ the report says.
Garretson says that the US and India have demonstrated via a number of recent steps that they are ready for a deeper partnership, inclusive of sensitive and strategic technology in space and energy.
‘An international SBSP demo project is within reach of present engineering and mega science budgets, and can be done with existing launch vehicles,’ he says.
From the US side, the programme can be managed out of the Department of State’s Office of Ocean Environment and Science with funds coming from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy. On the Indian side, the report says, the high-level oversight can be provided by the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change.
According to the report, such a programme linking the technical bases of the world’s largest democracies might be a way out of India’s (and the world’s) climate-energy dilemma.
‘It will also become one of the grandest and most ambitious humanitarian and environmentalist causes that will be sure to excite a generation as did the Apollo program that put a man on the moon,’ the report says.
From: http://blog.cleantechies.com/2010/09/21/new-report-us-and-india-solar-energy-space/
New Report Asks US and India to Take Solar Energy Into Space
JustmeansPublished on Date September 21st, 2010 by Justmeans
Posted in Category Asia-Pacific, Category North America, Category Solar
Several months ago, I mentioned the Shimizu Corporation’s plan to place solar panels on the moon to generate renewable energy that would be transferred back to Earth and distributed along power lines. Shimizu Corporation’s hope was that they could begin working on their project sometime in 2020 when Japan planned to have a solar powered base upon the moon. Now, a plan coming out of India is suggesting that it is time for India and the United States to form a partnership that would allow them to begin developing a program for space solar power.
The report pushing for space based solar energy was published by a think tank that is being supported by the Indian Defense Ministry with the aid of one Lieutenant Colonel Peter Garretson of the United States Air Force. The report lays out a three step plan that would have India and the United States entered into a commercial energy business venture that would be generating large quantities of solar energy from installations placed in orbit around the Earth. The first stage, according to the report, details how an investment of $10 – $30 million over the course of five years would be required to develop the technology required for both the satellites and the means in which to deliver them to space. The second step would see a further investment of nearly $10 billion over the course of ten years as the two countries developed a system to retrieve and sell the power on a commercial and industrial scale. The final scale would have the two countries establishing what the report calls an “international for-profit consortium … to address energy security and carbon mitigation concerns.” This would result in a fully realized program, ideally, by 2025.
The research and the proposed program for solar energy are mired in a variety of political obstacles. While the creation of a large scale solar program like this would go far in aiding India in cutting down on carbon emissions without taking up already precious city space they would be required to sign the Missile Technology Control Regime treaty. The agreement, which was signed in 1987 by several nations to prevent the proliferation of missile technology, has long been refused by India. The report also indicates that it would be necessary to coordinate their efforts with the United Nations and other countries in order to prepare for the increased amount of travel that would be going to and from Earth as a consequence of initiating this program. Though the political issues remain, the people involved are confident they would be easy to remedy and are optimistic that an agreement can be made between India and the United States regarding this program in November when President Obama plans to meet with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Though some may be concerned that tossing more satellites into Earth’s orbit would be contributing to the already crowded situation going on up there, the fact remains that this would be a considerable leap forward for solar energy. Taking solar energy collection into space also presents an ideal alternative to countries like India or Japan who are faced with the obstacle of limited space within their nations for the construction of vast solar farms. With any luck, the next news we may hear about this project may come in November during the aforementioned visit.
Article by Richard Cooke, appearing courtesy Justmeans.
JustmeansPublished on Date September 21st, 2010 by Justmeans
Posted in Category Asia-Pacific, Category North America, Category Solar
Several months ago, I mentioned the Shimizu Corporation’s plan to place solar panels on the moon to generate renewable energy that would be transferred back to Earth and distributed along power lines. Shimizu Corporation’s hope was that they could begin working on their project sometime in 2020 when Japan planned to have a solar powered base upon the moon. Now, a plan coming out of India is suggesting that it is time for India and the United States to form a partnership that would allow them to begin developing a program for space solar power.
The report pushing for space based solar energy was published by a think tank that is being supported by the Indian Defense Ministry with the aid of one Lieutenant Colonel Peter Garretson of the United States Air Force. The report lays out a three step plan that would have India and the United States entered into a commercial energy business venture that would be generating large quantities of solar energy from installations placed in orbit around the Earth. The first stage, according to the report, details how an investment of $10 – $30 million over the course of five years would be required to develop the technology required for both the satellites and the means in which to deliver them to space. The second step would see a further investment of nearly $10 billion over the course of ten years as the two countries developed a system to retrieve and sell the power on a commercial and industrial scale. The final scale would have the two countries establishing what the report calls an “international for-profit consortium … to address energy security and carbon mitigation concerns.” This would result in a fully realized program, ideally, by 2025.
The research and the proposed program for solar energy are mired in a variety of political obstacles. While the creation of a large scale solar program like this would go far in aiding India in cutting down on carbon emissions without taking up already precious city space they would be required to sign the Missile Technology Control Regime treaty. The agreement, which was signed in 1987 by several nations to prevent the proliferation of missile technology, has long been refused by India. The report also indicates that it would be necessary to coordinate their efforts with the United Nations and other countries in order to prepare for the increased amount of travel that would be going to and from Earth as a consequence of initiating this program. Though the political issues remain, the people involved are confident they would be easy to remedy and are optimistic that an agreement can be made between India and the United States regarding this program in November when President Obama plans to meet with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Though some may be concerned that tossing more satellites into Earth’s orbit would be contributing to the already crowded situation going on up there, the fact remains that this would be a considerable leap forward for solar energy. Taking solar energy collection into space also presents an ideal alternative to countries like India or Japan who are faced with the obstacle of limited space within their nations for the construction of vast solar farms. With any luck, the next news we may hear about this project may come in November during the aforementioned visit.
Article by Richard Cooke, appearing courtesy Justmeans.
From:
American Indian Solar Space Partnership
Wednesday, 22 September 2010 GreenMuze Staff
An Indian Defense Ministry-backed report suggests a joint US$10 billion (€7.65 billion) Indian-US space based solar power generation program would be good for political relations as well as reducing greenhouse gases. US Air Force lieutenant colonel Peter Garretson, in conjunction with the Institute of Defense Studies, New Delhi (India), wrote a report recommending the Indian and US governments forge a strategic partnership to make space-based solar energy commercially viable by 2025. President Obama’s November visit to India may be the venue to announce the partnership.
The proposal is to have a five year pre-program development program, costing US$10-30 million (€7.65 - €22.96 million) to eliminate risk and to identify the advanced technology needed for the project. Followed by a US$10 billion (€7.65 billion), ten year international project to design, manufacture, and launch an orbital solar power generation system.
Since India and the US are both major greenhouse gas emitters, developing technology that will reduce their emissions is seen as a progressive approach to dealing with climate change. India has great solar power potential but scarce land areas to implement it, while the US would like to be a world leader in the renewable energy and, being a late entrant in the field, needs to play catch up.
A space-based system therefore seems to fit into the plans of both countries. For India, it is a potential major international step up, and a great opportunity to grow in stature in Asia, and counter China’s growing influence. Unfortunately, politics always gets in the way, and India has yet to sign the Missile Technology Control Regime, meant to prevent the spread of missile technology. The US is concerned about the spread of nuclear weapons technology (such as from Pakistan to North Korea) and nuclear weapons delivery systems.
In a world facing great uncertainty due to the causes, effects and consequences of global climate change, it seems the last thing that we need is to add in global politics that are likely to muddy the waters and likely add greater risk of projects failing to deliver on their clean energy promises.
From: http://overseasindian.in/2010/sept/news/20101409-095018.shtml
India-US solar power initiative urged
Bengaluru, Sep 14 India and the U.S. should explore the feasibility of a space-based solar power (SBSP) programme with the ultimate aim of putting in place a commercially viable system by 2025, a report by a Defence Ministry funded think tank says.
There is, however, a catch. India would first have to accede to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) before the system is put in place, says the report that has been prepared by Peter Garretson, a US Air Force lieutenant colonel on a sabbatical as an international fellow at the New Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).
Noting that SBSP can be "the next major step in the Indo-US strategic partnership", the 174-page report says the launch of such a potentially revolutionary programme can begin with a joint statement by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and U.S. President Barak Obama during the latter's visit to New Delhi in November.
Besides helping to "solve the linked problems of energy security, development and climate change", the SBSP will provide an opportunity for India to use its successful space programme while shaping a future peaceful space regime, Garretson said.
He has proposed a three-tiered programme, moving from basic technology and capacity building to a multi-lateral demonstrator and ultimately to an international commercial public-private-partnership entity to supply commercial power in the 2025 timeframe.
The report concludes that SBSP "does appear to be a good fit for the U.S. domestic, Indian domestic and bilateral agendas, and there are adequate political space and precursor agreements to begin a bilateral programme".
Expanding on the three-stage plan, Garretson says an initial five-year $10-30 million programme will develop contributing technologies and build a competent work force culminating in a roadmap for a demonstration prototype.
A second, $10 billion, 10-year phase will see the formation of an international consortium to construct a sub-scale space solar power system that can directly be scaled up by industry. The final stage will entail India-US leadership to set up an international for-profit consortium along the lines of the INTELSAT model to address energy security and carbon mitigation concerns.
"The overall program goal must be to enable, by 2025, space-based solar power as a viable economic replacement for fossil fuel energy, and second, to position the US and Indian technical and industrial bases to enjoy a competitive edge in what is expected to be a significant and profitable market," the report says.
Garretson says that the U.S. and India have demonstrated via a number of recent steps that they are ready for a deeper partnership, inclusive of sensitive and strategic technology in space and energy.
"An international SBSP demo project is within reach of present engineering and mega science budgets, and can be done with existing launch vehicles," he says.
From the US side, the programme can be managed out of the Department of State's Office of Ocean Environment and Science with funds coming from the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy. On the Indian side, the report says, the high-level oversight can be provided by the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change.
According to the report, such a programme linking the technical bases of the world's largest democracies might be a way out of India's (and the world's) climate-energy dilemma.
"It will also become one of the grandest and most ambitious humanitarian and environmentalist causes that will be sure to excite a generation as did the Apollo program that put a man on the moon," the report says.
"If there is a desire to pursue simultaneous development of low cost access to orbit, then the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) assurance document must be signed (by India)," the report says.
India has thus far resolutely declined to sign the MTCR, terming it discriminatory.
It is also important that direct engagement with United Nations governance bodies will be required, even before the demonstration stage, "to cope with the significantly increased traffic to and from and in space", the report says.
India and U.S., the future rulers of the photovoltaic space?
A new brick could be added to the long history of scientific cooperation between two of the biggest polluters in the world. A report published by the Indian Ministry of Defence suggests that the two countries can pave the way for a program to use solar energy in orbit
(Rinnovabili.it) - A great opportunity for collaboration and growth in the energy is introduced to India and the U.S. to jointly launch a program to capture solar energy in space to be transformed into a commercially viable by 2025 . To support and the report compiled by Peter Garretson, a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel who worked in collaboration with the Institute for Research and Defense Analysis in New Delhi.
The report calls on the governments of both countries to extend their strategic partnership, already well proven in the field of an astronaut on a pioneering project to harness the solar energy in space. A program that dell'SBSP (Space-Based Solar Power), truly revolutionary not only for bilateral relations between India and the United States but for all the objectives of energy security, supply and fight against Climate Change in it. Both, in fact, affected by the pressure from several fronts on the production of greenhouse gas emissions and seek new and innovative sources of clean energy supply has become the 'gold rush' of these years
The authors are also firmly convinced that the program provides the opportunity to win New Delhi to move forward in its perpetual competition with China.
The idea contained in 174 pages is that which is already the currency
Japan
Pacific Gas & Electric Pacific Gas & Electric
Position in geostationary orbit solar collectors can gather solar radiation, 24 h 24 h with an efficiency much higher than the unitary ground installations, and then be sent back to earth via microwaves.
Garretson proposes a three-level, through the development of technology demonstrator based on a multi-lateral, to the creation of an international body based on a public-private partnership for commercial energy supply by the year 2025.
For the Asian giant, however, there is an obstacle, well outlined in the report, the failure to adhere to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) - India considered discriminatory -, however, a delicate issue at the international level. Once approved, the MTCR, the author explains, the operation of the program would require "only" an initial funding in the order of 10-30 million dollars to cover a period of 5 years and 10 billion dollars for the next decade .
From: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.greenme.it/informarsi/energie-rinnovabili/3080-fotovoltaico-spaziale-nel-2025-partira-un-maxi-programma-congiunto-usa-india&ei=CxWeTLuWOsKBlAfK94CnCg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CE8Q7gEwCQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dindia%2BUS%2Bspace%2Bsolar%2Bpower%2Bsite:.it%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3D4iC%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26tbs%3Dqdr:m
Photovoltaic space: in 2025 will start a joint program maxi USA - India?
Martedì 21 Settembre 2010 15:11 Scritto da Piergiorgio Pescarolo Tuesday, September 21, 2010 15:11 Written by Piergiorgio Pescarolo
fotovoltaico_spaziale
Allies in a big program calendar to be launched into space by 2025. . E 'can be the result of a technical partnership to address eco friendly between India and U.S. , and which would, in fifteen years, creating a system of commercial exploitation of space photovoltaics .
He informed these days, a report conducted by Peter Garretson , Lieutenant-Colonel 's U.S. Air Force, who worked together to' study for the Institute for Defense Analyses and New Delhi, on the development a joint project between the two powers. More specifically, the report indicates a request to be made to both governments (India and the USA) to verify the conditions for the extension of a partnership in exploiting the ' solar energy in space for which has already been identified Name: SBSP ( Space-Based Solar Power ).
On a technical level, the project includes the placement of solar collectors in geostationary orbit, which are able to capture the sun's radiation, and send them to Earth via a microwave system. The procurement, in that case, would be constant (24 hours out of 24) and lead to significantly higher efficiency when compared with terrestrial plants.
This would be an extension of the strategic alliance already in place in the field of aerospace, and which - if implemented - could prove to be innovative in the political relationship between the U.S. and India, and for the purposes ecologic and contained in the report: in it, In fact, we speak of the need for energy security of supply and climate change all "voices" to which both countries should take into account. If for no other reason than the economic aspect of the matter: the field of research and development in renewable energy is the most important frontier in the economy in recent years.
The "Indian side," however, will be prejudiced by not adhering to the Missile Technology Control Plan (MTCR - Missile Technology Control Regime), India believes that it is discriminatory and that, internationally, an issue to be addressed carefully.
Lieutenant Colonel Garretson, however, assumed - once past this obstacle - even the need for financial supply for the project: a first tranche of funding (albeit nebulous, since it indicates an amount ranging from 10 to 30 million dollars) for the first 5 years, and a second appropriation (listed in the $ 10 billion) would cover the next decade.
Piergiorgio Pescarolo Piergiorgio Pescarolo
04 June 2009
3 Space Solar Posts
From: http://www.ecohearth.com/eco-news/eco-op-ed/593-space-based-solar-power-the-time-has-come.html by Steven Kotler
From: http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1383/1 by Trevor Brown
A nation such as the United States would have developed enough clean and renewable solar energy to become one of the world’s foremost energy exporters.
http://www.idsa.in/publications/stratcomments/PeterGarretson220509.htm by Peter Garretson
Dreamy, yes, but not actually science fiction.
In 1968, Peter Glaser—inventor, NASA-advisor and VP for Advanced Technology at Arthur C. Little—figured out in principle how to transmit electric power via microwaves. A study done in 1981 by the EPA, DOE, NASA and the Department of Commerce,researchers found no “insurmountable obstacles” to the whole idea. The hard proof came in 2008, when researchers sent a microwave beam 92 miles between two Hawaiian islands and kept it up for four months straight.
The 92-mile distance was chosen because it’s equivalent to the amount of atmosphere a microwave beamed from space would have to penetrate.
In fact, just about every piece in this puzzle—from inflatable mylar solar panels to the massive antennae needed to catch the signals back here on Earth—has been solved. The real remaining problems are those familiar devils: cost and will.
Skeptics often point out that despite the obvious advantages to space-based solar power, price will always be the determining factor. Currently, using existing technology, everyone’s best guess is that such a system would cost about $10 billion to install and generate electricity at—in a very optimistic scenario—50 cents per kWh.
Certainly that’s not cheap, but skeptics often forget the size of the mess we’re now in.
But shouldn’t we consider a little resource reallocation?
According to Greenpeace, Americans subsidize the fossil-fuel industry in the range of $15-to-$35 billion every year. And this doesn’t include the extra $2 billion we’re ponying up for the Clean Coal Technology Roadmap—a sure way to get lost if there ever was one.
Hmm. What could we spend those billions on…
Well, if you don’t like my low-tech solution, how about the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, ARPA-E—the newly established DOE big-think, no-idea-too-crazy, pie-in-the sky energy research lab.
ARPA-E is one of the Obama administration’s wondrous ideas, touted as our great hope for an environmentally friendly energy future, with a current operating budget of $400 million.
This means we’re willing to spend less than 1/25th (at the least) on serious innovation when compared to what we—meaning the taxpayers—spend subsidizing the extraction industries.
And an interesting architecture discussionFrom: http://www.thespacereview.com/
A nation such as the United States would have developed enough clean and renewable solar energy to become one of the world’s foremost energy exporters.
If solar power satellites such as these did come into being, they would very likely necessitate the overhaul of the entire global economy to achieve broad compatibility with the new energy technology. The resultant economic transformation would be incredible, creating many new high technology jobs in industries across the world, but especially in the nation that was at the epicenter of the SSP breakthrough. In fact, of greatest economic impact may not be the new energy technology itself, but rather the wave of innovation arising in complement to the new energy technology.
And yet the tremendous symbolic power that these satellites could possess may have a profound impact far beyond the realm of economics and the environment. Due to their photovoltaic properties, large enough spheres could have a crystalline appearance in space visible from the Earth with the naked eye, giving them the appearance of diamonds in the sky. If this were the case, these satellites would not only drastically reduce carbon emissions and provide a plentiful source of renewable energy, but there physical beauty across the backdrop of both day and night skies could be surreal for onlookers, causing many around the world to become enamored with the entrepreneurial verve of a nation that developed them as well as with the culture that created them. A nation that owned and operated what appeared to be diamonds in the sky producing abundant clean energy would surely be at the forefront of global leadership, attracting the sentiments of much of the world’s population into its socio-political camp.
Of even greater socio-cultural impact could be their effect on the technological aptitude of a nation, as the case may very well be that crystalline discs shining like diamonds in the sky could inspire an entire generation of young Americans to excel in math and science like never before. With the tangible, ever present symbol of mathematical excellence glimmering in the sky by day and by night, kids could very likely develop a whole new appreciation for the “coolness” of science.
From:http://www.idsa.in/publications/stratcomments/PeterGarretson220509.htm by Peter Garretson
Space as the Source of Our Future Energy Peter Garretson |
| May 22, 2009 |
| The idea is to launch giant orbiting solar collectors into space, where there is no night, and beam the power to receivers on the ground, where it is fed as electricity to the grid. Long championed by former President Dr. Abdul Kalam, and the Aerospace Society of India (AeSI), the idea is seen as a long-term solution for energy security and climate change, and the most environmentally benign and scalable renewable energy option, which deserves its own focused development programme. Such satellites would be the largest, most ambitious space projects ever contemplated. A single solar power satellite would be several kilometres long, with a transmitting antenna about a kilometre across, and generate between one and ten Gigawatts (as much power as 10 nuclear power plants). It might weigh tens of thousands of metric tons and would require a fleet of reusable space vehicles to construct. Follow-on designs might use materials from the Moon. Existing communications satellites use a similar process, using the power of the Sun on their solar arrays to power a radio transmitter for sending radio and television signals. But the small antenna on communications satellites prevents them from being able to focus a beam for power-beaming. To beam power, the transmitter must be increased to almost a kilometre long, and a special receiver, a rectifying antenna, or rectenna is required. The rectenna would be several kilometres across, about the size of a municipal airport, made of a thin metal mesh, and would be 80 per cent transparent to sunlight, allowing the land underneath it to be used for pastoral, agricultural use or production of algae biodiesel. Far from some scary space-ray, the large transmitting and receiving antenna, the high conversion efficiency, and the constant availability allow the beam to be very low power—about a sixth the strength of sunlight on a warm sun tan beach day. Except that sunlight contains high frequency ultraviolet rays which can strip off electrons in our cells and cause cancer. The beam from a Solar Power Satellite would be of low frequency, very similar to current wi-fi devices, and is non-ionizing and not dangerous like UV. Proponents feel it is an attractive option for several reasons. One, by 2025 the world will have added another two billion people, its energy needs will have doubled, the combustion of fossil fuels will continue to alter the composition of the atmosphere with concerns about climate change, and by mid-century we would have exhausted most of our fossil fuels. By mid-century India alone would have added 300,000,000 people, expanded its electrical generating capacity eleven-fold, from 121 GWe to 1350 GWe, moved upwards of 60 per cent of its population to cities, and exhausted all or almost all of its fossil resources. How are we to maintain a sustainable civilization if we remain a closed system and never access the vast wealth of all the rest of the universe? In space faring advocate Mike Snead’s excellent paper, “The End of Easy Energy and What to Do About It,” he lays out the need and opportunity for Space Solar Power. Today the total world needs about 81 Billion Barrel of Oil Equivalent (BOE) thermal or about 15 TWe. And by 2100, to complete development to the “gold standard” of 30 BOE per capita, will require an expansion to probably 300 billion BOE, or roughly 55 TWe. By 2100 we will probably be about 50 years beyond the age of oil, and will have had to increase our renewable/sustainable energy 26 times. Even with a massive up-scaling of terrestrial renewable energy in the most optimistic estimates, the deficit is still close to 60 per cent. 55TWe is just very hard to come by on Earth. But what if we go to space, where energy is abundant, where the Sun never sets and delivers up to 9 times as much energy per unit area as on Earth, and 24 hours a day? There, in the Geostationary belt alone, is thought to be in excess of 177TWe of exploitable green solar energy—and it will be there for at least a billion years. If we could provide 55 GWe of green energy we fix our climate and energy problems in the long run, and we would grow the Gross World Product (GWP) over ten-fold. Imagine a world greater than an order of magnitude wealthier, a world fully developed with the security that a high standard of living brings. Can we afford to ignore a resource that vast? Does not extraordinary reward justify extraordinary effort? Those in the space movement think it cannot be ignored and that we need not only have to look beneath our feet for our energy, but can look to the stars for renewable, sustainable, scalable energy, and for a cleaner, brighter tomorrow. |
23 May 2009
Renewable Energy Partnership? SBSP & India
From: http://www.idsa.in/publications/stratcomments/PeterGarretson220509.htm
Space as the Source of Our Future Energy
Peter Garretson
May 22, 2009
The idea is to launch giant orbiting solar collectors into space, where there is no night, and beam the power to receivers on the ground, where it is fed as electricity to the grid. Long championed by former President Dr. Abdul Kalam, and the Aerospace Society of India (AeSI), the idea is seen as a long-term solution for energy security and climate change, and the most environmentally benign and scalable renewable energy option, which deserves its own focused development programme.
Such satellites would be the largest, most ambitious space projects ever contemplated. A single solar power satellite would be several kilometres long, with a transmitting antenna about a kilometre across, and generate between one and ten Gigawatts (as much power as 10 nuclear power plants). It might weigh tens of thousands of metric tons and would require a fleet of reusable space vehicles to construct. Follow-on designs might use materials from the Moon.
Existing communications satellites use a similar process, using the power of the Sun on their solar arrays to power a radio transmitter for sending radio and television signals. But the small antenna on communications satellites prevents them from being able to focus a beam for power-beaming. To beam power, the transmitter must be increased to almost a kilometre long, and a special receiver, a rectifying antenna, or rectenna is required. The rectenna would be several kilometres across, about the size of a municipal airport, made of a thin metal mesh, and would be 80 per cent transparent to sunlight, allowing the land underneath it to be used for pastoral, agricultural use or production of algae biodiesel. Far from some scary space-ray, the large transmitting and receiving antenna, the high conversion efficiency, and the constant availability allow the beam to be very low power—about a sixth the strength of sunlight on a warm sun tan beach day. Except that sunlight contains high frequency ultraviolet rays which can strip off electrons in our cells and cause cancer. The beam from a Solar Power Satellite would be of low frequency, very similar to current wi-fi devices, and is non-ionizing and not dangerous like UV.
Proponents feel it is an attractive option for several reasons. One, by 2025 the world will have added another two billion people, its energy needs will have doubled, the combustion of fossil fuels will continue to alter the composition of the atmosphere with concerns about climate change, and by mid-century we would have exhausted most of our fossil fuels. By mid-century India alone would have added 300,000,000 people, expanded its electrical generating capacity eleven-fold, from 121 GWe to 1350 GWe, moved upwards of 60 per cent of its population to cities, and exhausted all or almost all of its fossil resources. How are we to maintain a sustainable civilization if we remain a closed system and never access the vast wealth of all the rest of the universe?
In space faring advocate Mike Snead’s excellent paper, “The End of Easy Energy and What to Do About It,” he lays out the need and opportunity for Space Solar Power. Today the total world needs about 81 Billion Barrel of Oil Equivalent (BOE) thermal or about 15 TWe. And by 2100, to complete development to the “gold standard” of 30 BOE per capita, will require an expansion to probably 300 billion BOE, or roughly 55 TWe. By 2100 we will probably be about 50 years beyond the age of oil, and will have had to increase our renewable/sustainable energy 26 times. Even with a massive up-scaling of terrestrial renewable energy in the most optimistic estimates, the deficit is still close to 60 per cent. 55TWe is just very hard to come by on Earth. But what if we go to space, where energy is abundant, where the Sun never sets and delivers up to 9 times as much energy per unit area as on Earth, and 24 hours a day? There, in the Geostationary belt alone, is thought to be in excess of 177TWe of exploitable green solar energy—and it will be there for at least a billion years. If we could provide 55 GWe of green energy we fix our climate and energy problems in the long run, and we would grow the Gross World Product (GWP) over ten-fold. Imagine a world greater than an order of magnitude wealthier, a world fully developed with the security that a high standard of living brings. Can we afford to ignore a resource that vast? Does not extraordinary reward justify extraordinary effort? Those in the space movement think it cannot be ignored and that we need not only have to look beneath our feet for our energy, but can look to the stars for renewable, sustainable, scalable energy, and for a cleaner, brighter tomorrow.
Space as the Source of Our Future Energy
Peter Garretson
May 22, 2009
The idea is to launch giant orbiting solar collectors into space, where there is no night, and beam the power to receivers on the ground, where it is fed as electricity to the grid. Long championed by former President Dr. Abdul Kalam, and the Aerospace Society of India (AeSI), the idea is seen as a long-term solution for energy security and climate change, and the most environmentally benign and scalable renewable energy option, which deserves its own focused development programme.
Such satellites would be the largest, most ambitious space projects ever contemplated. A single solar power satellite would be several kilometres long, with a transmitting antenna about a kilometre across, and generate between one and ten Gigawatts (as much power as 10 nuclear power plants). It might weigh tens of thousands of metric tons and would require a fleet of reusable space vehicles to construct. Follow-on designs might use materials from the Moon.
Existing communications satellites use a similar process, using the power of the Sun on their solar arrays to power a radio transmitter for sending radio and television signals. But the small antenna on communications satellites prevents them from being able to focus a beam for power-beaming. To beam power, the transmitter must be increased to almost a kilometre long, and a special receiver, a rectifying antenna, or rectenna is required. The rectenna would be several kilometres across, about the size of a municipal airport, made of a thin metal mesh, and would be 80 per cent transparent to sunlight, allowing the land underneath it to be used for pastoral, agricultural use or production of algae biodiesel. Far from some scary space-ray, the large transmitting and receiving antenna, the high conversion efficiency, and the constant availability allow the beam to be very low power—about a sixth the strength of sunlight on a warm sun tan beach day. Except that sunlight contains high frequency ultraviolet rays which can strip off electrons in our cells and cause cancer. The beam from a Solar Power Satellite would be of low frequency, very similar to current wi-fi devices, and is non-ionizing and not dangerous like UV.
Proponents feel it is an attractive option for several reasons. One, by 2025 the world will have added another two billion people, its energy needs will have doubled, the combustion of fossil fuels will continue to alter the composition of the atmosphere with concerns about climate change, and by mid-century we would have exhausted most of our fossil fuels. By mid-century India alone would have added 300,000,000 people, expanded its electrical generating capacity eleven-fold, from 121 GWe to 1350 GWe, moved upwards of 60 per cent of its population to cities, and exhausted all or almost all of its fossil resources. How are we to maintain a sustainable civilization if we remain a closed system and never access the vast wealth of all the rest of the universe?
In space faring advocate Mike Snead’s excellent paper, “The End of Easy Energy and What to Do About It,” he lays out the need and opportunity for Space Solar Power. Today the total world needs about 81 Billion Barrel of Oil Equivalent (BOE) thermal or about 15 TWe. And by 2100, to complete development to the “gold standard” of 30 BOE per capita, will require an expansion to probably 300 billion BOE, or roughly 55 TWe. By 2100 we will probably be about 50 years beyond the age of oil, and will have had to increase our renewable/sustainable energy 26 times. Even with a massive up-scaling of terrestrial renewable energy in the most optimistic estimates, the deficit is still close to 60 per cent. 55TWe is just very hard to come by on Earth. But what if we go to space, where energy is abundant, where the Sun never sets and delivers up to 9 times as much energy per unit area as on Earth, and 24 hours a day? There, in the Geostationary belt alone, is thought to be in excess of 177TWe of exploitable green solar energy—and it will be there for at least a billion years. If we could provide 55 GWe of green energy we fix our climate and energy problems in the long run, and we would grow the Gross World Product (GWP) over ten-fold. Imagine a world greater than an order of magnitude wealthier, a world fully developed with the security that a high standard of living brings. Can we afford to ignore a resource that vast? Does not extraordinary reward justify extraordinary effort? Those in the space movement think it cannot be ignored and that we need not only have to look beneath our feet for our energy, but can look to the stars for renewable, sustainable, scalable energy, and for a cleaner, brighter tomorrow.
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