The Case for Space Solar Power

The Case for Space Solar Power PDF Author: John Mankins
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780991337019
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 488

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Book Description
This book makes the case for Space Solar Power; recounting the history of this fascinating concept and summarizing the many different ways in which it might be accomplished. The book describes in detail a highly promising concept - SPS-ALPHA (Solar Power Satellite by means of Arbitrarily Large Phased Array) - and presents a business case comprising applications in space and markets on Earth. The book explains how it is possible to begin now with technologies that are already at hand, while developing the more advanced technologies that will be needed to deliver power economically to markets on Earth. The Case for Space Solar Power concludes by laying out a path forward that is both achievable and affordable: within a dozen years or less, the first multi-megawatt pilot plant could be in operation. Getting started could cost less than $10 million over the first 2 years, less than $100 million over the next half dozen years. Given that space solar power would transform our future in space, and might provide a new source of virtually limitless and sustainable energy to markets across the world, the book poses the question, "Why wouldn't we pursue space solar power?"

The Case for Space Solar Power

The Case for Space Solar Power PDF Author: John Mankins
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780991337019
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 488

Get Book

Book Description
This book makes the case for Space Solar Power; recounting the history of this fascinating concept and summarizing the many different ways in which it might be accomplished. The book describes in detail a highly promising concept - SPS-ALPHA (Solar Power Satellite by means of Arbitrarily Large Phased Array) - and presents a business case comprising applications in space and markets on Earth. The book explains how it is possible to begin now with technologies that are already at hand, while developing the more advanced technologies that will be needed to deliver power economically to markets on Earth. The Case for Space Solar Power concludes by laying out a path forward that is both achievable and affordable: within a dozen years or less, the first multi-megawatt pilot plant could be in operation. Getting started could cost less than $10 million over the first 2 years, less than $100 million over the next half dozen years. Given that space solar power would transform our future in space, and might provide a new source of virtually limitless and sustainable energy to markets across the world, the book poses the question, "Why wouldn't we pursue space solar power?"

The Case for Space

The Case for Space PDF Author: Robert Zubrin
Publisher:
ISBN: 1633885348
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
"A new space race has begun. But the rivals in this case are not superpowers but competing entrepreneurs. These daring pioneers are creating a revolution in spaceflight that promises to transform the near future. Astronautical engineer Robert Zubrin spells out the potential of these new developments in an engrossing narrative that is visionary yet grounded by a deep understanding of the practical challenges. Fueled by the combined expertise of the old aerospace industry and the talents of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, spaceflight is becoming cheaper. The new generation of space explorers has already achieved a major breakthrough by creating reusable rockets. Zubrin foresees more rapid innovation, including global travel from any point on Earth to another in an hour or less; orbital hotels; moon bases with incredible space observatories; human settlements on Mars, the asteroids, and the moons of the outer planets; and then, breaking all limits, pushing onward to the stars."--Publisher's website.

Scramble for the Skies

Scramble for the Skies PDF Author: Namrata Goswami
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1498583121
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 465

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Book Description
With a focus on China, the United States, and India, this book examines the economic ambitions of the second space race. The authors argue that space ambitions are informed by a combination of factors, including available resources, capability, elite preferences, and talent pool. The authors demonstrate how these influences affect the development of national space programs as well as policy and law.

The New Gold Rush

The New Gold Rush PDF Author: Joseph N. Pelton
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319392735
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
This book captures the most exciting advances in the harnessing of space as a global resource. The authors track the growing number of space businesses and opportunities for investors, and the many possible benefits of spaceplanes, space stations and even space colonies. The authors also discuss the need for more regulatory reform. Companies like Planetary Resources are now forming to find mineral-rich asteroids and bring back new riches to Earth. Solar power satellites in the next few years will start to beam clean energy back to Earth, to meet the growing demands of a still-developing world. Innovative space industries are vital to the survival of modern human life, and the authors demonstrate what can be done to encourage the growing of the "New Space" frontier. From lassoing and then mining asteroids to developing new methods of defending the planet from space hazards and setting up new hotels and adventures for tourists in space, this new industry will have profound effects on Earth, especially on its economy. This book is based on a study of international experts commissioned ahead of the UNISPACE+50 meeting, having distilled the results of this comprehensive fact-finding process into a compact and very readable form. It can serve as an excellent starting point for understanding all the activities underway or planned to make space truly our next frontier.

Laying the Foundation for Space Solar Power

Laying the Foundation for Space Solar Power PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309170400
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 94

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Book Description
In March 2000, NASA's Office of Space Flight asked the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board of the National Research Council to perform an independent assessment of the space solar power program's technology investment strategy to determine its technical soundness and its contribution to the roadmap that NASA has developed for this program. The program's investment strategy was to be evaluated in the context of its likely effectiveness in meeting the program's technical and economic objectives.

Technical Feasibility of Space Solar Power

Technical Feasibility of Space Solar Power PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science. Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 104

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Book Description


NASA's Study of Space Solar Power

NASA's Study of Space Solar Power PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science. Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 88

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Book Description


The Sun, the Earth, and Near-earth Space

The Sun, the Earth, and Near-earth Space PDF Author: John A. Eddy
Publisher: Government Printing Office
ISBN: 9780160838088
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
" ... Concise explanations and descriptions - easily read and readily understood - of what we know of the chain of events and processes that connect the Sun to the Earth, with special emphasis on space weather and Sun-Climate."--Dear Reader.

The Sun to the Earth -- and Beyond

The Sun to the Earth -- and Beyond PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309169194
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
The sun is the source of energy for life on earth and is the strongest modulator of the human physical environment. In fact, the Sun's influence extends throughout the solar system, both through photons, which provide heat, light, and ionization, and through the continuous outflow of a magnetized, supersonic ionized gas known as the solar wind. While the accomplishments of the past decade have answered important questions about the physics of the Sun, the interplanetary medium, and the space environments of Earth and other solar system bodies, they have also highlighted other questions, some of which are long-standing and fundamental. The Sun to the Earthâ€"and Beyond organizes these questions in terms of five challenges that are expected to be the focus of scientific investigations in solar and space physics during the coming decade and beyond.

From Space to Earth

From Space to Earth PDF Author: John Perlin
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674010130
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
From Space to Earth tracks the evolution of the technology of photovoltaics, the use of solar cells to convert the sun's energy into electricity. John Perlin's painstaking research results in a fascinating account of the development of this technology, from its shaky nineteenth-century beginnings mired in scientific controversy to its high-visibility success in the space program, to its current position as a versatile and promising power source.