Is space-based solar power a new idea?
Space-based solar power first conceived of in the late 1960’s, during the widely supported Apollo program. It was patented by Dr. Peter Glaser in 1968, when gasoline was a quarter a gallon, access to space was still a new frontier and technologies like photovoltaics and wireless power transmission were new and undeveloped. World population was much lower than today and so was the demand for energy. The business case for space-based solar power no where near closing. The world has changed in significant ways since then. Space-based solar power has been studied several times by government agencies over last 40 years. It was examined extensively during the late 1970s by the D.o.E. and NASA and then reexamined by NASA from 1995-1997 in the “fresh look” study. The concept was studied again in 1998 in a “concept definition study” by NASA, which was followed in 1999-2000, when NASA undertook the SSP Exploratory Research and Technology (SERT) program. During 2001-2002, NASA pursued an SSP Conc
