Space Elevator That Soars 60,000 Miles into Space May Become Reality by 2050

From: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/302223/20120221/space-elevator-60000-miles-reality-obayashi-nanotube.htm

Space Elevator That Soars 60,000 Miles into Space May Become Reality by 2050
By Surojit Chatterjee | Feb 21, 2012 12:01 PM EDT

Obayashi Corporation, one of the major Japanese construction companies, has a grandiose dream - it plans to build a 'space elevator,' by the year 2050, which will transport passengers almost 60,000 miles high into space, Japanese newspaper Yomiuri has reported.

A 'Space Elevator,' till now read in science fiction novels, is set to become a realty. As early as 1979, sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke mentioned about construction of a space elevator in his novel 'The Fountains of Paradise.' The elevator was supposed to link Earth with a satellite in geostationary orbit. But, it remained a dream because of technology's limitation.

The new millienium, however, has brought the dream of 'space elevator' into the realms of reality. At the 2nd Annual International conference, year 2003, on Space Elevator, Dr. Brad Edwards, president and founder of Carbon Designs Inc, showed the blueprint of a proposed space elevator, which has been backed by NASA.

But it's not just NASA. Even non-government organizations have been working on developing the technology of space elevator.
Once the space elevator becomes a reality, price of space travel is expected to become cheaper as people will no longer be confined to travelling by a space shuttle only.

According to Obayashi, a 30-seaters space elevator will be made of carbon nanotube, a material which is lightweight but 20 times stronger than steel. The whole length of the elevator cable is expected to be 96,000 kilometers (59,651.64 miles). At a speed of 200 kilometers (124,27 miles) per hour, passenger will be able to reach the terminal satellite which is 36,000 kilometers (22,369.37 miles) up high after a 7.5 days trip.

Obayashi claims the week-long trip might not be boring as it plans to play elevator music. Unfortunately, further details have not been disclosed.

Japan Nuclear Disaster Provides Impetus for Space Based Solar power

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-radical-alternative-to-nuclear-reactors

How Far We've Come! (Space-Based Solar Power)

Check out this presentation from Shreyankur Tripathi of Amity University, Uttar Pradesh, India, "The objective of the paper is to understand the Space based Solar Power along with its advantages, disadvantages, design and other important aspects and then finally discussing about its feasibility."

http://www.scribd.com/doc/36333358/Presentation

When I started looking at Space Solar Power close to 7 years ago, you could only find a very few links on the Internet...perhaps 1 on NASA, and 2 on Space.com, one on SFF, and Permanent.com.  How things have changed.  I was doing some surfing for images, and look at these beautiful NEW images and web articles:

http://www.greendiary.com/entry/solaren-to-capture-the-sun-raw-in-outer-space/

SolarEn to capture the Sun raw in outer space

Posted by: Shaweta Chauhan | May 4 2009

Here is yet another move to meet the global energy needs. The solar power generation is not a new concept, however, placing solar arrays in space to capture the maximum energy of the Sun can be a step further. Californian utility PG & E and SolarEn corp. have joined hands to fix solar panel arrays in space. The concept is estimated to generate 200MW of power by 2016. The plant costing an estimated $2 billion will provide sufficient energy to light up 250,000 homes.

Converting solar energy in space to electricity

SolarEn proposes to launch satellite, draped with solar panels, in the Earths’ orbit 22,000 miles above the Equator. These satellites will collect and convert solar energy into radio frequencies. The RF is transferred to its ground station in California, which then converts it into electricity and transmitted through power grids to the PG&E delivery point.

Impact on Environment

The Space-based solar power plant has minimal impact on the environment. By placing the satellite into their proper orbit, natural fuels like H2, O2, etc will be made use of. When in proper operations, this power plant will have zero carbon emissions thus making the environment free from mercury and sulfur footprints. The SSP Ground Receiver Station, which converts RF energy into electricity, does not require water for thermal cooling and power generation.

Challenges

The SSP plant faces technological and economic challenges before it becomes a reality.

• Getting a supersized solar array into the space is the major concern of SolarEn.

• High development cost is a major drawback of the project.

Failed projects of Space based solar power

• In August 2008, NASA launched the Nano-Sail D mission into the space, which was designed to test the feasibility of solar sails. The mission failed a few minutes after its launch.

• On 21st June 2005, the engine of Volna booster rocket (a joint Russian - U.S. project), failed minutes after its takeoff.

• In 1999, Russia launched a project similar to Volna booster from its Mir space with a sun-reflecting device. Due to some technical failure, the system burned in the atmosphere.

Read more: http://www.greendiary.com/entry/solaren-to-capture-the-sun-raw-in-outer-space/#ixzz0y218UGRx 

from: http://inhabitat.com/2010/06/01/plan-to-transform-the-moon-into-a-solar-plant-is-sheer-lunacy/

Plan To Transform The Moon Into a Solar Plant is Sheer LUNAcy

by Ariel Schwartz, 06/01/10

filed under: Renewable Energy, Solar Power

We’ve heard about schemes to gather solar power directly from space before, but designers at Japan’s Shimizu Corporation have taken the idea to a new level with the Luna Ring, a concept solar power plant on the moon. The plan involves building a 6,800 mile “solar belt” around the moon, beaming electricity to earth with microwaves and lasers, and setting up receiving stations on Earth where the power can then be used.

Shimizu even has a grand plan for bringing the resources for the solar plant to the moon. Humans will barely be involved–all construction will be taken care of by robots with oversight from astronauts. The company explains that, “Water can be produced by reducing lunar soil with hydrogen that is imported from the Earth. Cementing material can also be extracted from lunar resources. These materials will be mixed with lunar soil and gravel to make concrete. Bricks, glass fibers and other structural materials can also be produced by solar-heat treatments.”

Compelling ideas, to be sure, but we’d like to see evidence that any of this is possible. If we can’t get robots to fix an oil spill 5,000 feet below the ocean’s surface, how can we possibly expect them to build a gigantic solar power plant on the moon? Even if this whole scheme was proven possible, the costs would be astronomical — pun fully intended. Still, we can’t fault Shimizu for being ambitious. And while a 6,800 mile solar belt may be far-fetched, that doesn’t mean a more reasonably-sized solar power plant can’t someday end up on the moon.

+ Shimizu Corporation

Via Pink Tentacle

Read more: The Insane Plan to Transform The Moon Into a Giant Solar Plant | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World 

http://futurismic.com/2010/06/02/mega-engineering-awesome-future-concepts-from-shimizu-corporation/

Mega-engineering: awesome future concepts from Shimizu Corporation

Paul Raven @ 02-06-2010 

Get yourself over to Pink Tentacle right away; they’re hosting a bunch of mega-engineering promo images and design concepts from Japan’s Shimizu Corporation, who plainly aren’t afraid to think in directions with strong science fictional undertones. Directions such as floating lily-pad cities, million-citizen pyramidal cities, space hotels… and turning the moon into a gargantuan solar power station.

This one’s the winner for me, because any image of a planetary satellite re-engineered into a solar power plant that has the words “MASTER PLAN” masked onto it in large letters is, by any sane and reasonable metric, better than pretty much any other image. Of anything.

Bonus! Compare and contrast with these images of Russian space-race installations and rolling stock decaying the middle of nowhere [via Chairman Bruce]. Maybe one day in the deeper future, people will tut and shake their heads at images of Shimizu’s lunar power station, pocked with impact damage and slowly drowning in lunar dus

http://earth2tech.com/2009/06/16/powersat-space-solar-flies-closer-to-earth/

PowerSat: Space Solar Flies Closer to Earth

By Jennifer Kho Jun. 16, 2009, 5:05pm PDT 1 Comment

Do you like this story?

Solar from space: It may sound like a bad sci-fi movie, but a growing number of companies think it could solve the world’s energy crisis. Among them is Everett, Wash.-based PowerSat Corp., which said today it’s filed a provisional patent for two technologies it claims could help make the transmission of solar power from space more cost-effective. CEO William Maness also told us that the 8-year-old company has received commitments for $3-$5 million in angel funding, which it’s using to develop wireless power demonstrations on Earth, and is currently in negotiations for a first venture round in the single-digit millions.

The PowerSat news comes after Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based Solaren, another space solar company, in April signed a deal to provide power to northern California utility PG&E. And Swiss startup Space Energy recently said it’s working to launch a prototype satellite into space in 2-3 years.

Solar In Space

Space solar promises virtually unlimited power, with no carbon dioxide emissions. Undiminished by atmosphere or cloud cover, the sun’s energy is five times more powerful than can be found on even the brightest desert on the planet, according to PowerSat’s web site. And since the sun shines at full power all the time, solar energy-capturing satellites — called powersats — can receive more than 25 times as much power as a ground-based system of the same size, the company says.

Here’s how space solar would work: Power satellites armed with solar arrays would generate direct-current electricity, then convert that electricity into radio-frequency energy, which they would transmit the same way that radio travels to your car. But instead of using electricity to transmit information, as a radio signal does, these satellites would be sending the electricity itself. The radio frequency would get converted back into DC electricity at the receiver on the ground.

The huge potential has been apparent for decades, but space solar faces plenty of challenges. The biggest challenge so far, says Maness, is that it’s considered a risky investment. Nobody wants to invest billions of dollars to launch unproven technology into space, but it’s hard to prove the technology works without trying it out on location. Those billions of dollars represent another major hurdle. Even SpaceX‘s target price of $500 per pound, with its Falcon 9 spaceship, is about 20 percent too high to make a commercial space-solar project viable, and other launch estimates “aren’t even in the ballpark,” Maness said.

PowerSat’s Innovation

Now, PowerSat has come up with two technologies that it claims could shave off roughly $1 billion in launch and operation costs for a 2.5-megawatt power station. The first of these is called BrightStar. Instead of one large satellite, Brightstar uses a cluster of hundreds of small ones, which work together — similar to cloud computing — to transmit the power as a group.

The second technology, called Solar Power Orbital Transfer or SPOT, uses the same solar array needed for wireless power transmission to power the electronic thrusters that boost the satellites from what’s called “low Earth orbit,” which is 300-1,000 miles up, to “geosynchronous Earth orbit,” which is 22,236 miles up. Other satellites use a chemically fueled “space tug” to get to the geosynchronous level, and eliminating that power source reduces the weight of a satellite by 67 percent, dramatically decreasing launch costs, Maness said.

The company is developing a 10-kilowatt demonstration project with unnamed potential clients. In about three years, PowerSat hopes to launch a low-earth-orbit project, which will cost about $100 million. And within five years, the startup plans to look for a partnership with a utility, a public-private partnership involving the government or an initial public offering to raise the money for a full-sized project.

PowerSat plans to launch a prototype project into geosynchronous orbit in 2015 and to reach full power production between 2019 and 2021. It expects the smallest economically viable project, with a capacity of 2.5 gigawatts, to cost between $4-$5 billion.

Raising that kind of money, even with proof in place, will be a colossal task. And a long path — the company hasn’t even raised its first single-digit million venture round, although it has closed angel funding. It’s clear that while space solar may be flying closer, it still has a long way to go.

http://www.consumertechblog.com/tech-questions/how-do-you-feel-about-space-based-solar-power/

How Do You Feel About “Space Based Solar Power”?Filed Under Tech Questions 

Tuesday, 20 October 2009 | Posted by John

That is correct.  Solar Based Solar Power is one thing that might be considered and would change everything!  I see the picture and I think to myself “what if this things is tilted 10 degrees in the wrong direction”?  Is there any possibility of this thing creating a major disaster on Earth?

The article says that “low powered beams are considered safe”, but what happens when you put your cat in the microwave?  (please do not abuse your kitty).  The technology is simple and really, it seems like a great idea, but to only support the electricity for 1,000 homes, just doesn’t seem worth it to me.

There is a receiving grid a mile wide, even that takes up too much room.  I would put the worth of the idea higher if it could power 10,000 homes.  Small cities could take advantage and maybe even help to fund projects like this.  To power only 1,000 homes, the city I live near would have to send up 50 light collectors and have a receiving area even larger to convert the light on Earth.

It is nice to see others “looking outside the box”, at least.  The ideas may seem far fetched, but at least they are in idea form.  I would like to talk to whomever thinks it’s cost effective to send up a solar collector that can only power 1,000 homes.

http://greatpyramidmystery.com/Sources1.html#Source204

SSPS (Space Solar Power Satellites) & Ground Collectors

Nasa and a number of other agencies have proposed placing giant satellites in geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) to collect sunlight with solar cells. The energy would be converted to a maser beam which would be beamed to the ground to supply earth's energy needs with free, clean, sustainable energy. The basic concept of the SSPS is to beam microwaves from space. The energy would be collected by vast collectors at the ground at high efficiency (around 90%).

The basic technology is now entirely proven with satellite communication relays. The barriers to its development to high power levels are mainly associated with launch costs, a limitation that may well be overcome with BEP technology. 

Space Solar Power Satellite

Maser powered from space By concentrating on our future domestic energy supply, the proponents of SSPSs have so far failed to stress the very real potential this technology has to supply the energy needed to get the whole system into space both cheaply and efficiently. They also apparently ignore the obvious fact that, assuming BE propulsion is developed first, then the cost of launching these payloads into space could be reduced 1000x.

Enthusiasts propose placing a series of massive SSPS's (each 1km-5km in diameter) in GEO. Each 1km2 of satellite collector would receive 1.36Gigawatts of solar energy and, using solid-state technology, convert a modest percentage (~30%?) of this energy into coherent microwaves (ie a maser) to produce a near-constant 400Mw at the ground.

The higher E/D in space and the high total hours of operation, (24/7 for 99% of the year) would make a space installation 4x-5x more effective than any ground-based solar collector. The energy is also made available when other (solar-based) supplies are off line (ie in winter and at night.

When the world converts to solar, night time energy will be at a premium

Ground Power Stations

Ground stations would go hand-in-hand with the space collectors. An efficient ground reciever would be a light metal grid or netting 5km-6km in diameter. It could be situated almost anywhere on the ground below (or in shallow water) from the equator to the arctic circle. Aerial relays positioned in the upper atmosphere could also feed smaller ground arrays or extend this range, if necessary.

http://blog.dtirenewableenergy.com/2009/01/space-based-solar-power.html

Space-Based Solar Power?

Labels: solar

Excerpt: The Economist (December 4, 2008)

Around the clock, 1.3 gigawatts of energy pour through every square kilometre of space around the earth. This energy could be captured by vast arrays of photovoltaic cells mounted on a satellite in orbit around the planet. These solar cells would be illuminated at all times of day, whatever the weather or the season, overcoming one of the main drawbacks of solar power on the earth’s surface. And with no atmosphere in the way to absorb or scatter the incoming sunlight, solar panels in space would produce over five times as much energy as those on the ground. (Some proposals for SSP involve large arrays of mirrors or lenses to concentrate the light onto a smaller array of panels.)

The logical place to put the satellite would be in a geostationary orbit, 35,800 kilometres above the earth’s equator, so that it completes one circuit of the planet per day, and thus appears (from the ground) to hover in a fixed place in the sky, like the communications satellites used to broadcast television signals. The solar-power satellite would send the collected energy down to earth in the form of a microwave beam, which would be picked up on the ground by a huge array of antennae, spread over several square kilometres in open country. The power density of the beam at the receiver would be little greater than what leaks out from a domestic microwave oven, so there would be no danger of incinerating entire cities. Microwave communications links are already used in the telecoms industry without doing any harm to wildlife.

Posted by Robert Volpe at Saturday, January 31, 2009

From: http://www.thestar.com/business/article/692716

Back to Bright idea or sci-fi?

Bright idea or sci-fi?

September 09, 2009

Tyler Hamilton

Researcher Nobuyuki Kaya showed how solar power could be sent back to Earth from space using microwaves.

TYLER HAMILTON/TORONTO STAR

It sounds like something out of a sci-fi novel. Solar power plants orbiting the planet, each the size of 700 Canadian football fields, beaming clean energy down to Earth 24 hours a day so we can run our factories, charge our gadgets and keep our home appliances humming.

But for the scientists and engineers attending the International Symposium on Solar Energy from Space, a three-day conference this week in Toronto, there's nothing fictional about it. In their view, building massive space-based solar power systems represents, over the long term, one of the most effective ways of tackling the double menace of global warming and peak oil.

"Space-based solar power is a tremendously exciting prospect," said Liberal MP Marc Garneau, the first Canadian in space, speaking yesterday at the Ontario Science Centre about the potential for Canadian involvement in the project. "This country has all the fundamentals to play a leading role."

The Japanese are already leading the charge. Earlier this month, it was reported that Japan's government, working with a consortium of 16 companies, had committed to a $24 billion project to have a 1,000-megawatt solar station in space within three decades. This would generate enough electricity to power 300,000 homes, though getting the equipment into space would likely require more than 1,000 rocket launches.

Eco website TreeHugger called it Japan's "moon shot." The power station would consist of four square kilometres of solar photovoltaic arrays fixed in orbit about 36,000 kilometres above the planet's surface. Energy collected by the panels would be beamed by microwave to a receiving station back on Earth and converted into electricity before connecting to the land-based power grid.

Scientists say the advantage of putting a solar station in space is that it would face the sun 24 hours a day and would not be limited by cloud cover or air pollution. That would allow it to continuously generate power in the same manner as nuclear and fossil-fuel plants, but without the associated waste and greenhouse-gas emissions.

The idea has been around for 40 years, attracting serious attention from NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense during the 1970s, but funding eventually dried up. It wasn't until the late 1990s that interest in the concept resurfaced, partly as a result of concerns related to global warming and energy security.

Two years ago, the Pentagon's National Security Space Office issued a report that concluded solar-based power "is more technically executable than ever before."

The solar panels are more efficient and less costly to manufacture, technology exists to have robots assemble the station in space, and our understanding of wireless power transmission has improved dramatically.

Former NASA executive John Mankins, now president of the Space Power Association, said he believes space-based solar power could be economically competitive with other options.

Mankins added that he believes a small 10-megawatt demonstration plan could be in orbit within the next 10 years. "It's a reasonable time frame," he said.

At the conference, Nobuyuki Kaya, vice-dean of graduate engineering at Kobe University in Japan, demonstrated how the power could be transmitted wirelessly. Assisted by a team of students, he was able to light up a cluster of red LED lights and power a simple robot by beaming energy about 10 metres across a room.

Kieran Carroll, chief technology officer for Space Canada, which is hosting the conference, said such a system could be safely designed to accept and convert large amounts of energy from space. The trick is to transmit at low intensity by sending it down on a wide beam, about 10 kilometres across.

There would have to be no-fly zones around the area, but it wouldn't fry anyone walking through it.

"The power flux density in the middle of the (receiving) field would be perfectly safe for any life," said Carroll.

"In Canada, on a winter's day, one of the big problems would be that birds would probably hover over the field to get warm."

A reality check, however, came from power developer Wael Almazeedi, who warned of the legal, financial and regulatory challenges the plan would face, as well as the difficulty of "promoting a concept based on science fiction."

---------------------

Here is a Public Policy Discussion on YouTube regarding Space-Based Solar Power at "SpaceUP DC"

PCAST Public Statement on Space Solar Power

Readers of this blog know that Open.gov's #1 public suggestion for NASA, DOE, and OSTP was to hold a conference on Space-Based Solar Power   OSTP administers the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST)

President Obama specifically tasked the PCAST with providing him with Energy related scientific advice, including: "But energy is our great project, this generation's great project. And that's why I've set a goal for our nation that we will reduce our carbon pollution by more than 80 percent by 2050... I will charge PCAST with advising me about national strategies to nurture and sustain a culture of scientific innovation."

PCAST recently had a meeting where Mr. John Mankins, President of Artemis Innovation Solutions gave a public statement.  

Mr. Mankins has a 25-year career at NASA and JPL, including 10 years as the manager of Advanced Concepts Studies at NASA, and was the manager of Exploration Systems Research and Technlogy overseeing nearly a billion dollar budget of over 100 individual projects and some 3000 personnel.  

Check out what he had to say about Space Solar Power:

COMMENTS TO THE PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL OF ADVISORS ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY WRITTEN STATEMENT

An Opportunity for Transformation: Space Solar Power

16 July 2010

John C. Mankins President, Artemis Innovation Management Solutions LLC1

To meet the challenges of Energy and the Environment in an increasingly interdependent and competitive world, novel policies and systems concepts must be pursued. Space activities are not generally considered as relevant to these global challenges outside of Earth observing, global positioning, and the like.

However, this may be an oversight of great significance.  

A space program goal that could--if achieved--radically change the dynamic for renewable energy is that of space solar power: the capability to deliver on demand energy gathered in space to global markets almost continuously.

Unfortunately, as things now stand the US can scarcely even consider this revolutionary goal. No Agency combines the right mix of responsibilities for security, space development, U.S. energy needs, and international relations. DOE is responsible for energy, not space. NASA is responsible for space and aeronautics, not energy. And so on. And with constrained budgets no Agency is looking to add additional goals to their current responsibilities.

Also, some believe the concept of space solar power is impossible. Such views are based largely on conviction, not engineering. Not for more than a decade has there been in the US a systematic, end--to--end study of the concept, nor any meaningful R&D.

And look how far non--space technology has progressed in the past 10 years. Why should space solar power be impossible, except that it is that we have assumed it is so. Basing policies and programs on such assumptions is no recipe for innovation.  

In fact, in 2000 an independent National Research Council review committee found that space solar power was already then technically feasible and that the only R&D issues to resolve involve the question of eventual economic viability. 

The revolutionary new systems concept that could enable space solar power is that of intelligent modular systems building truly enormous future space capabilities out of many hundreds and thousands of smaller component systems. This concept applies to space the principals and architectures of networked systems from hives of bees to cloud computing.

Of course, diverse new technologies still in the laboratory must be proven for space solar power in wireless power transmission, robotics, materials, electronics, and other areas. And numerous new supporting infrastructures will be needed, including low cost launch, affordable in-- space transportation, and others. But, recall how the steam engine changed the world and it was first fabricated from known materials by adult craftsmen working in existing shops. Similar systems--level revolutions resulted from internal combustion, electrification, and heavier than air flight. Although innumerable breakthroughs followed, the beginnings of each lay in new concepts, visionary investments and focused development. 

In the same way, no breakthroughs are required to build the first space solar power pilot plants.

I believe that in a decade or less, the first space solar power pilot plant could be in orbit, delivering to people in multiple countries both clean energy, and a new vision of the interconnectedness of space and Earth. And that within a generation, space solar power could be established as a competitive green energy source in markets worldwide.

Certainly, a revolution in technology, such as space solar power is urgently needed one that would allow the US, working with others to deliver by mid century 100s of thousands of megawatts of carbon--free power to global markets.

The concept of space solar power is under consideration in several countries around the world, ranging from India where key groups and a former President have proposed an international study of the idea, to Japan where space solar power is already an official goal of the Japanese space program. This is a unique moment when the US could demonstrate critical, catalytic leadership working with friends around the world to explore an already technically feasible but fundamentally new and sustainable source of energy.

I urge the PCAST to give consideration to space solar power as a prospective national--level goal that could enhance and engage the best of U.S. government competencies, business capabilities and international relations.

Thank you for this opportunity to present these views to the Council. A copy of my oral statement to the PCAST is appended, as are extensive references on the topic of space solar power.

Appendix 2 Discussion Points for OSTP / PCAST Public Statement

Meeting the dual challenges of Energy and the Environment in an interdependent and competitive world demands novel policies and systems concepts. Space activities are not generally considered as relevant to these global challenges outside of Earth observing, global positioning, and the like.

However, this may be an oversight of great significance.

A space program goal that could if achieved radically change the dynamic for renewable energy internationally is that of space solar power: the capability to deliver on demand energy gathered in space to global markets almost continuously.

Unfortunately, as things now stand the US can scarcely even consider this revolutionary goal. No Agency combines the right mix of responsibilities for security, space development, U.S. energy, and international relations. The DOE is responsible for energy, not space. NASA is responsible for space and aeronautics, not energy. And so on.

And, some believe space solar power is impossible. However, such views are based largely on conviction, not engineering. For over a decade the US has conducted no systematic, end--to--end study of this concept, nor any meaningful R&D.

Of course, diverse technologies must be proven for space solar power in wireless power transmission, robotics, and other areas. But, recall how the steam engine changed the world and it was first fabricated from known materials by craftsmen working in existing shops.

In a decade or less, the first space solar power pilot plant could be in orbit, delivering to people in multiple countries clean energy, and a new vision of the interconnectedness of space and Earth.  

Clearly, a revolution is needed one that can enable the US, working with others to deliver by mid century 100s of thousands of megawatts of carbon--free power to global markets. 

I urge the PCAST to give consideration to space solar power as a prospective national--level goal that could enhance and engage the best of U.S. government competencies, business capabilities and international relations.

1 For additional Information, please contact: John C. Mankins; President, Artemis Innovation Management Solutions LLC; P.O. Box

6660, Santa Maria, California

93456 USA; email: john.c.mankins@artemisinnovation.com; website: http://www.artemisinnovation.com.

Appendix 1 Selected Bibliography of Relevant References Key References

Feingold, Harvey, et al, Space Solar Power A Fresh Look at the Feasibility of Generating Solar Power in Space for Use on Earth (SAIC; Schaumberg, Illinois, USA). 02 April 1997.

Glaser, Peter, Ph.D.; Method and Apparatus for Converting Solar Radiation to Electrical Power.(US Patent No. 3,781,647; U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; Washington, D.C.)

25 December 1973.

Howell, Joseph T. and Mankins, John C., Highly Reusable Space Transportation A Summary Report; Retrospective 2009 (Presented at the International Symposium on Solar Energy from Space / IAA SPS 2009 Workshop; Toronto, Canada). 8--11 September 2009.

Mankins, John C. and Kaya, Nobuyuki, A Report On The Status of the IAA Study Group on Solar Energy from Space, IAC--C3.1.1 (Presented at the 60th International Astronautical Congress; Daejeon, Republic of Korea). October 2009.

Mankins, John C. and Howell, Joseph T.; Overview of the Space Solar Power Exploratory Research and Technology Program ---- AIAA 2000--3060 (35th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference; Las Vegas, Nevada USA). 24--28 July 2000.

National Research Council, Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, Committee for the Assessment of NASA's Space Solar Power Investment Strategy, Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, Laying the Foundation for Space Solar Power: An Assessment of NASA's Space Solar Power Investment Strategy. (National Academies Press; Washington, D.C. USA). 2001.

Additional References

Brandhorst, Henry; Megawatt SEPS and Mars Exploration(International Symposium on Solar Energy from Space / SPS 2009 at the Ontario Science Center; Toronto, Canada). 810 September 2009.

Criswell, David R., Power Collection and Transmission System and Method

(US Patent No. 3,781,647; U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; Washington, D.C.)

28 May 1991.

Commercial Space Transportation Study Team, Commercial Space Transport Study Final Report,(Distributed by W. Piland, NASA Langley Research Center; Hampton, Virginia; USA). April 1994.

Ignatiev, Alex, Ph.D., Opportunities to Employ Lunar Surface Materials in a Future Space Solar Power Economy, (Presented at the International Symposium on Solar Energy from Space / IAA SPS 2009 Workshop; Toronto, Canada). 8--11 September 2009.

Kaya, Nobuyuki; Mankins, John C.; Iwashita, Masashi; Little, Frank; and Marzwell, Neville; Hawaii Demonstation of Microwave Beam Control, supported by the Discovery Channel; (International Symposium on Solar Energy from Space / SPS 2009 at the Ontario Science Center; Toronto, Canada). 8--10 September 2009.

Kaya, Nobuyuki, et al.; Crawling Robots On Large Web In Rocket Experiment On Furoshiki Deployment (55th International Astronautical Congress; Vancouver, Canada). 2004.

Mankins, John C., Space Solar Power: A Fresh Look, AIAA

95--3653 (Presented at the 1995 AIAA Space Programs and Technologies Conference, Huntsville, Alabama). September 1995.

Penn, Jay, and Law, Glenn, Future SSP Systems Concepts: the Laser Option.

Commercial and Military Applications, (Presented at the International Symposium on Solar Energy from Space / IAA SPS 2009 Workshop; Toronto, Canada).

8--11 September 2009.

Mankins, John C., A Technical Overview Of The SunTower Solar Power Satellite Concept (IAF--97--R.2.08; 38th International Astronautical Federation, Turin, Italy)

6--10 October 1997.

Mankins, John C.; An Affordable Lunar Launch Concept: MagLifter on the Moon

(revisiting the Lunatron); (International Symposium on Solar Energy from Space / SPS

2009 at the Ontario Science Center; Toronto, Canada).

8--10 September 2009.

Mankins, John C.; Technology Readiness Levels Definitions (White Paper NASA Headquarters; Washington, D.C.; USA). 1995.

Mankins, John C.; Research & Development Degree of Difficulty A White Paper

(White Paper, Advanced Projects Office, NASA Headquarters; Washington, D.C.; USA).

10 March1998. McSpadden, James; Advances in RF Wireless Power Transmission;

(International Symposium on Solar Energy from Space / SPS 2009 at the Ontario Science Center; Toronto, Canada). 8--10 September 2009.

Mihara, Shoichiro; Fuse, Yoshiharu; Saito, Takashi, and Ijichi, Koichi; WPT Technology Demonstration Options at USEF; (International Symposium on Solar Energy from Space / SPS 2009 at the Ontario Science Center; Toronto, Canada). 8--10 September 2009.

Office of Technology Assessment, US Congress; Solar Power Satellites. (Washington DC.) 1981.

Powell, James, R., Maise, George and Rather, John, Maglev Launch An Ultra Low Cost Way to Deploy Space Solar Power Systems (Presented at the International Symposium on Solar Energy from Space / IAA SPS 2009Workshop; Toronto, Canada).

8--11 September 2009.

Which Country Will Be The Next To Put An Astronaut On The Moon

This is nice information, but in a real sense, it misses the point entirely.  It isn't about firsts, or being able to "get there," the important step is to be able to get there and stay there permanently.  Only an architecture based upon Space Resource Utilization, conceived from the beginning as an industrial project with the private interests in mind, and with a nodal, reusable architecture with space logistics conceived from the start.  The more important essay is the previous entry by Paul Spudis below, that outlines what the real race is about.

http://io9.com/5463846/which-country-will-be-the-next-to-put-an-astronaut-on-the-moon

tips@io9.com

Which Country Will Be The Next To Put An Astronaut On The Moon?President Obama's 2011 budget cut NASA's Constellation program, his predecessor's plan to return humans to the Moon, en route to Mars. With the US government apparently out of the race to return to the Moon, who will now be next?

As Buzz Aldrin once so famously observed, "Second comes right after first." The Apollo program was a remarkable achievement - it was arguably the single greatest feat of engineering and human ingenuity in our history - but it proved a dead-end in terms of further human exploration of the solar system.

After nearly a half-century's worth of technological advancement at an exponential rate, a return of humans to the Moon figures to be more than just an end in and of itself. As such, the implications of which astronauts are the next to set foot on the Moon likely entails more than just which flag gets planted in the lunar soil.

There are a number of potential candidates for which country (or, more accurately, which geopolitical entity, but "country" is catchier) will be the next to put astronauts on the Moon. Let's take a look at the contenders, which include emerging global powers, veterans of the space race, and a dark horse or two.

China:

China has to be considered the odds-on favorite to reach the Moon next. The country made headlines when it launched its first taikonaut, Yang Liwei, into space in 2003. The mission itself was fairly primitive, recalling NASA's Mercury missions of the early 1960s. Indeed, that comparison to the American space race may be very appropriate, as a 2009 article in the UK's The Guardian noted:

"The attitude to the space programme in China is a little bit like the attitude towards space exploration in the western world in the 1960s," says Kevin Fong, an expert in space medicine at University College London. "There's a deep fervour among their university kids for space technology. The main difference between China and America now is that China can just do something - they don't need to ask permission or go through a democratic process and get the budget approved."Although China's proposed mission dates of 2025 and 2030 are not quite as ambitious as other countries, the sense among some experts is that China may have a much earlier date in mind. From the same article:

"It's all very dark out there and you're not really sure how much they're doing," says Fong. "They seem very serious about it and have mature thoughts about it, from the little you see in their presentations. They still have much to learn from the existing space community and don't want to be too overt about their ambitions at risk of looking like they've over-promised." China successfully placed the probe Chang'e-1 in lunar orbit in 2007.Current plans also include a sample return mission in 2017 before the crewed attempt in the next decade. Barring a major change, the smart money in this space race has to be on China.

[The Guardian]

India:

India's first satellite was put into orbit by the Soviets in 1975, and the country has been undertaking its own rocket launches since the early eighties. However, it was the launch of Chandrayaan-1 in October 2008 that marked the real giant leap for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The probe is the first Indian spacecraft to travel beyond Earth's orbit, and its Moon Impact Probe successfully landed on the Moon on November 14, 2008.

After the success of this mission, ISRO has set 2020 as its date for the first crewed mission to the Moon. It has a big budget to work with - about $800 million a year, with another $1.2 billion committed solely to human spaceflight over the next ten year - but the specific plans for a return to the Moon remain unclear. Without a better sense of the logistics of the mission, it's still difficult to gauge how realistic India's goal of 2020 actually is.

[The Hindu]

Russia:

The current plan, as of August 2007, is for Russia to put cosmonauts on the Moon by 2025, with plans to establish a permanently crewed base on the lunar surface between 2027 and 2032. This is seen as a prelude for a mission to Mars in 2035.

The big problem for Russia is just how the country will be able to fund such a tremendously expensive endeavor. The economy did undergo massive growth in the previous decade under Vladimir Putin, but the global financial crisis has hit the country hard. Its fiscal situation remains precarious, and it may be difficult to consistently fund such ambitious programs. Russia's space tourism program has brought in about $30 million per ticket, but only eight plutocrats have thus far made the trip. That won't make much of a dent in the likely hundreds of billions of dollars needed for such a program.

One of the more interesting aspects of the Russian plan is thecreation between 2016 and 2025 of a low orbital platform around the Earth. From here, Russia hopes to assemble spacecraft, potentially including those that will take the cosmonauts to the Moon and eventually Mars. They also hope to use the International Space Station as a laboratory until 2020, five years past the US's stated date of decommission.

[Ria Novosti]

Europe:

The European Space Agency's Aurora Programme was an ambitious project established in 2001 with the lofty stated objectives of exploring the solar system and searching for life beyond Earth. The current timeline for Aurora is a crewed mission to the Moon in 2024.

Like with many cooperative projects undertaken by the European Union, budgetary considerations and clashing objectives of the member-states may prove to be huge complicating factors for Aurora. Even the ESA's official website still stresses that Europe has to decide how committed it is to space exploration, saying it can choose either to be a major player or junior partner in the global exploration of space. Although Europe likely has the technology and money to make Aurora a reality, it remains a very open question whether the public sentiment is there to see such a project through to its conclusion.

[ESA]

Japan:

The Japanese space agency JAXA announced back in 2006 that it intends to establish a base on the Moon by 2030. To accomplish this feat, Japan hopes to land astronauts on the Moon by 2020. The base itself will begin construction around 2025, if all goes according to plan.

Although JAXA and its predecessor organizations have a long history dating back to 1970 of space exploration, they have not yet developed a crewed spacecraft. When the plan was first announced, spokesman Satoki Kurokawa addressed the public relations challenges of such an ambitious program:

"The feasibility of the plan is unclear at this point as we need to gain understanding by the government and the Japanese people on our plan, but technologically it would be possible in a few decades," Kurokawa said.At the risk of microanalyzing that statement, it seems a bit strange to talk about the technology being possible in "a few decades" when 2020 is now just ten years away. Considering just how steep a gradient Japan would have to climb just to get astronauts in space, let alone on the Moon, this has to be considered a real long shot.

[Moon Daily]

Private enterprise:

The most serious challenger to China is likely not a country at all, but instead the free market. Space Adventures, the company that has booked most of Russia's space tourists, already offers a circumnavigation of the Moon aboard the Soyuz craft for $100 million. (No billionaire has yet been quite eccentric enough to take them up on the offer.) Many entrepreneurs already predict such trips to the Moon will be commonplace by 2020, and Elon Musk, founder of Space Exploration Technologies, is willing to predict there will be commercial trips to Mars by the end of this decade.

Indeed, the Obama Administration's decision to cancel the Constellation program came hand in hand with a plan to put six billion dollars over the next five years towards further development of commercial spaceflight. Current commercial spaceflight developers estimate that this decision could create up to 5,000 jobs, allow for routine and relatively cheap orbital flights to begin by 2014, and open up the serious possibility of commercial trips to the Moon in the near term.

[Space]

The field:

Other countries with some manner of plans for human spaceflight include Ecuador, Iran, Malaysia, North Korea, Turkey, and Romania. Although all of these programs remain very much in their infancy, it's worth remembering that NASA put astronauts on the Moon within just eleven years of its founding, using technology that by today's standards was unimaginably primitive. So it's probably best not to rule any country out. Speaking of which...

USA:

Yes, Constellation has been scrapped. Yes, the current administration seems to be pursuing a very different direction of space exploration that may end up being far more beneficial than just remaking the Apollo program. Yes, there is absolutely no reason to think the US is headed back to the Moon anytime soon. Even so, it's hard to completely discount what is still the only country to actually put humans on the Moon. Admittedly, this viewpoint is not backed up by any hard evidence or information, and my reasoning is pretty much the intellectual equivalent of chanting "USA! USA!" All of that may be true. But still, um...

USA! USA!

Japanese Engineering Groups Join Mega Space Solar Project.

Japanese Engineering Groups Join Mega Space Solar Project.

Bloomberg News (9/1, Sato, Okada) reports, "Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and IHI Corp. will join a 2 trillion yen ($21 billion) Japanese project intending to build a giant solar-power generator in space within three decades and beam electricity to earth." According to Japanese trade ministry, "a research group representing 16 companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., will spend four years developing technology to send electricity without cables in the form of microwaves." Kensuke Kanekiyo, managing director of the Institute of Energy Economics, a government research body, said, "It sounds like a science-fiction cartoon, but solar power generation in space may be a significant alternative energy source in the century ahead as fossil fueldisappears." A document prepared by the trade ministry in August said that " Japan is developing the technology for the 1-gigawatt solar station, fitted with four square kilometers of solar panels, and hopes to have it running in three decades."

Japan Shooting For Space-Based Solar Power

http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/e/fr/tnks/Nni20090627D27JFF04.htm

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Japan Shooting For Space-Based Solar Power

TOKYO (Nikkei)--The government will by the end of this year start developing technologies designed to eventually beam electricity from solar panels in space down to the earth.

An artist's image of a compact satellite for use in an experiment to transmit power down to the earth. (Courtesy of JAXA)

A public solicitation for firms to participate in the endeavor will soon be made; the companies may be selected as early as next month. The government expects players in the electronics and heavy electric machinery industries to participate.

The hope is to commercialize orbital solar power by 2030. Such a system would have such advantages as generating electricity regardless of the weather on the ground.

The project will develop technologies to transmit power down to the earth. The idea is to convert solar electricity into microwaves, which would then be converted back into electricity at the surface.

The team will first attempt to transmit microwaves for a distance of around 10m; the hope is to extend this to 100m within three to five years.

The government plans to launch a small satellite in 2015 to conduct related experiments in space.

(The Nikkei June 28 edition)