Requirements for Space Solar Power
The technologies and infrastructure required to make space solar power feasible include:
•Low-cost, environmentally-friendly launch vehicles. Current launch vehicles are too expensive, and at high launch rates may pose
atmospheric pollution problems of their own. Cheaper, cleaner launch vehicles are needed.
•Large scale in-orbit construction and operations. To gather massive quantities of energy, solar power satellites must be large, far larger
than the International Space Station (ISS), the largest spacecraft built to date. Fortunately, solar power satellites will be simpler than the
ISS as they will consist of many identical parts.
•Power transmission. A relatively small effort is also necessary to assess how to best transmit power from satellites to the Earth’s
surface with minimal environmental impact.
