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| ID No : | 530 Edit | Title: | Space Solar Power: An Idea Whose Time Will Never Come? |
| Summary / Review : |
The author argues that space solar power (SSP) is extremely unlikely to be able to compete with Earth solar power and therefore there should be no more federal funds spent on SSP, in a short, 4 page paper that's half formulas.
It assumes Earth launch of SSP and does not consider space resources. I would agree that SSP from Earth launch makes no economic sense for the forseeable future and does not justify any priority federal expenditures at this time. However, SSP from space resources is a whole different matter. One should never say "never" like in the title, and go down in history that way, about something like this. The reviewer of this paper (MP) thinks federal expenditures on SSP from any source may not be justifiable at this time, but federal expenditures on space resources utilization in general are justified. Any federal funding of SSP should only be in the context of space resources utilization, and should be a tiny part of the latter funding at this early stage, whereby the lion's share of space resources funding should be in the basic foundation. The PDF paper has no date but my source states 2004. The PDF also does not state any parent publication or conference, but it starts by addressing another presenter by name, the paper opening by stating "Arthur Smith laments the lack of attention of Space Solar Power (SSP) ..." The reason I review this paper is because over the years, so many people have come out to shoot down SSP as uneconomical and not worth of attention based on the assumption of Earth launch. My response is that I disagree with the assumption of Earth launch, and point out that many if not most of us in the space resources community agree that SSP launched up from Earth will not become competitive with Earth solar, as we have for 25 years already, so this is nothing new, and you can shoot down any idea based on bad assumption (and very old ones, too). SSP is attractive in a space resources utilization scenario, as one of many products, and I would pre-empt further by cautioning against justifying space resources utilization for just one product. |
| Author(s) : |
Fetter, Steve, [University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland] |
| Publication Type : | Paper within a Parent compilation, or Presentation at a Professional conference |
| Publication Date: | 2004 |
| Pages : | 4 |
| # of References : | 9 |
| Category(s) : |
Products / Powersat / Economics and politics |
| Web URL : | No known web URL exists. If you know of one, please Add Comment below. |
| PERMANENT code(s) : | L |
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(Explanation of the last 3 rows above) |
In the row above, there are up to 4 possibilities: U = URL you can click on to get a copy instantly from another source on the internet, or request it from that source D = Downloadable from PERMANENT (such as because no other URL known...) L = LAN copy, PERMANENT has a digital copy but not downloadable from our website P = Paper copy in the PERMANENT office Typically, only 0 to 3 methods are available. |
| Submitted by : | Mark Evan Prado |
| Comments: |
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