WASHINGTON – APentagon-chartered report urges the United Statesto take the lead in developing space platforms capable of capturing sunlightand beaming electrical power to Earth.
Space-based solar power, accordingto the report, has the potential to help the UnitedStates stave off climate change and avoid futureconflicts over oil by harnessing the Sun's power to provide an essentiallyinexhaustible supply of clean energy.
The report, "Space-Based SolarPower as an Opportunity for Strategic Security," was undertaken by thePentagon's NationalSecurity Space Office this spring as a collaborative effort that reliedheavily on Internet discussions by more than 170 scientific, legal, andbusiness experts around the world. The Space Frontier Foundation, an activistorganization normally critical of government-led space programs, hosted thewebsite used to collect input for the report.
Speaking at a press conference heldhere Oct. 10 to unveil the report, U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Paul Damphousse of the National Space Security Space Office saidthe six-month study, while "done on the cheap," produced some verypositive findings about the feasibility of space-based solar power and its potential to strengthen U.S.national security.
"One of the major findings wasthat space-based solar power does present strategic opportunity for us in the21st century," Damphousse said. "It canadvance our U.S.and partner security capability and freedom of action and merits significantadditional study and demonstration on the part of the UnitedStates so we can help either the UnitedState s develop this, or allow the commercialsector to step up."
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