Why is SSP so advantageous?
The paper cites a report by the National Security Space Office (NSSO), which points out these benefits: • Scalable. Space solar power can be scaled to provide a high standard of living to the entire world. • Availability. SSP can easily be made readily available to every country in the world, especially developing countries that are in desperate need of wide scale, affordable energy distribution. • Intermittency. SSP is not subject to intermittency issues that plague solar on earth. There are no weather, seasonal, or day-night barriers. • No Breakthroughs Necessary. There need not be any fundamental breakthroughs in science and engineering to implement space solar power, a sizable hurdle for renewable energy industries at ground level. • Export and Flexibility. Harnessing SSP now could make the United States a net energy exporter in the near-term. The key barrier to SSP is economics. It is generally accepted that SSP, for all its advantages, is not economically feasible. This white pap
