If you think that solar shingles on a roof is a good idea ““ imagine what would happen if someone put giant solar panels on a massive satellite and sent it into space! The amount of energy harnessed would be enormous and would cut back on the usage of fossil fuels such as coal and petrole

The concept is to put immense solar power gathering satellites in geo-synchronous orbit around a region about 22,000 miles in the sky in order to harvest solar energy and then beam it down to large ground based receivers on the earth.

America is very interested in such an idea and the 2007 report released by the Pentagon”˜s National Security Space Office, encourages the U.S. government to work on the development of space power systems for the country. According to the report, “”¦a single kilometer-wide band of geosynchronous Earth orbit experiences enough solar flux in one year to nearly equal the amount of energy contained within all known recoverable conventional oil reserves on Earth today. Charles Miller, one of the directors of the Space Frontier Foundation, had this to say: “The conditions are ripe for something to happen on space solar power”¦the environment is perfect for a new start.

Russia, China, the European Union and India, according to the Pentagon report, are also excited about this concept. Japan, which has already invested several millions into space power studies, intends to test a small scale version of this satellite in the near future. Mehta, the Director of India operations for Space Island Group, which is a California-based company that works to develop solar satellites, believes that this is the solution to India”˜s growing power needs. However, there are several obstacles to this concept, not the leeasts of which being the cost of what it will take to creat such a satellite. Jeff Keuter, President of the George C. Marshall Institute, a Washington-based research organization, belives that “”¦it will take a great deal of effort, a great deal of thought and unfortunately a great deal of money. But it is certainly possible.

These future plans for solar power may seem ambitious and innovative, but are sure to prove beneficial in the long run, if carried out. All the campaigning about solar energy and energy conservation has finally paid off and a large scale interest in solar energy has finally made it into the big leagues. Perhaps in a few decades we will see these satellites take their place in orbit!