NASA appears to have cancelled its research into space-based solar power (SBSP) systems – orbiting solar arrays that beam microwaves to receivers on the ground, where the energy is converted to electricity.
Seen as one technology for combating climate change, SBSP faces major challenges – including the cost of launching hundreds of square kilometres of solar arrays to an altitude of 36,000 kilometres. Now a letter leaked to the NasaWatch.com blog says the space agency “does not have the resources available to support a proposed demo for SBSP”.
Advocates of the technology are still urging President-Elect Obama to adopt it by…
