Fifty-Eight Years of an Idea
How has space-based solar power evolved since it was first proposed, and why did earlier efforts stop?
Chapter summary
Peter Glaser proposed solar power satellites in 1968 and patented the microwave concept in 1973.
Key takeaways
- 1
In the late 1970s the US Department of Energy and NASA studied a 5 GW reference system with a kilometre-wide transmitter and a rectenna about 10 by 13 km, at a cost that made no sense without cheap launch.
- 2
Japan kept research alive through the 1990s and 2000s; the US revisited the idea several times.
- 3
Each wave stopped on the same obstacle: launch at thousands of dollars per kilogram.
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