"Concerned citizens" only hope for SPS......by Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill

The World's Energy Future Belongs in Orbit

by Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill
Trilogy January/February 1992
http://ssi.org/?page_id=8


Letting The Sun Shine In

'By close analogy, the probable best solution to our energy problem
is to use the third dimension. There is, already, an utterly reliable,
maintenance-free, nuclear reactor that consumes its own
wastes - the sun. Everywhere except where the Earth's shadow
interrupts it, sunlight is intense and reliable 24 hours a day;
everywhere, except where we have tried to use it so far.
There is a way to use the clean solar energy that now streams
by the Earth to lose itself in the depths of space. It does not
require new science, nor high temperatures, nor high energy density.
It is simply to locate, in high orbit, large arrays of solar panels.
Those panels convert solar energy to electricity, and then to
low-density radio waves. The waves are sent to fenced-off areas
on Earth where they are converted back to electricity at an efficiency
rate of more than 90 percent. To make solar power satellites (SPS)
practical and economical, we do not need any new science; we only
need to apply what we are already doing in the more advanced
industries: robotic production, computer control, and the replication
by robotic machines of some of their heavier, simpler
components."


"Since the governmental-scientific establishment in the United States
is making no useful move toward a serious review of satellite power
as a practical alternative, it may well be that concerned citizens
are the only force that can bring about the necessary action.
We as citizens have often succeeded in "Stop!" actions.
Let us review, carefully and with open minds, whether
SPS is something that we may want to "Start!"




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