C3.1 Fifty Years of Space Solar

Increased availability of affordable energy has never been more important to economic growth. Space Solar Power (SSP) – delivering energy for Earth from space – is one of the fundamental options for meeting this economic challenge. Every few years the international space solar power (SSP) community has organized a symposium on the topic, including SPS 2004 in Spain; SPS 2009 in Canada, SPS 2014 in Japan, and at the end of May 2018, SPS 2018 in the USA. 2018 is the 50th Anniversary of Dr. Peter Glaser’s invention of, and first paper on the topic of the solar power satellite (SPS). This paper presents a retrospective of the past fifty years, and a prospective view of the next fifty years of SSP.

John C. MANKINS

Vice President, Moon Village Association (MVA), President, ARTEMIS Innovation Management Solutions

United States

Read more…