by Nancy Houser

Created on: October 26, 2008   Last Updated: May 10, 2010

As International Space Station (ISS) mission specialists Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock floated in the darkness of space on November 3, 2007, they were basically hooked to life by a tether cord. Over their shoulders a magnetic view of Earth gently observed their diligent activities, activities that involved the repair of a damaged starboard P6 solar wing. As they worked for over seven hours on the two trips to bring full power back to the ISS, the last thing on their minds was the upcoming possibility of transferring clean solar power in space for those back home.

Solar power in space is definitely not a new thing, with the International Space Station, Mir, and Skylab specifically designed to use large solar cell arrays in order to generate solar power for their usage. And with today's rapidly depletion of energy on Earth, there is a new interest in using Solar Power Satellites (SSP) as an alternative energy source for our planet.

SEVERAL REASONS TO CHOOSE SOLAR POWER IN SPACE

In 2001, Dr. Neville Marzwell at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory stated that the consumption of energy in the United States was almost flat, feeling that to design low-cost electricity that was environmentally friendly would be challenging to say the least but highly necessary. Yet at the same time, cost-effective nuclear plants across the United States were being decommissioned and not being replaced. The field was becoming wide open for those who viewed solar power as a number one choice for several reasons:

* Cannot generate profits to support terrorist regimes

* Cannot provide a cover for nations hiding their development of nuclear weapons

* Available in 24/7 in huge quantities as compared wind and terrestrial solar power

* Eliminates the destruction of Earth as with coal and nuclear energy

* Does not lead to war as oil does

* Does not emit greenhouse gasses like oil, gas, ethanol and coal

* Considered an environmentally friendly resource

* Clean resource that is transmitted to Earth wirelessly

* Each person on Earth can received large quantities of energy with minute amounts of environmental impact

ABUNDANCE OF SOLAR POWER IN SPACE

Basically solar energy is an abundant source in our inner solar system, and obtaining enough of it to provide electricity on a global basis on Earth is a serious matter yet is considered obtainable. Comprehensive studies began about twenty years ago regarding large-scale solar power in space to generate power by Dr. Peter Glaser in the 1970s. It was

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