Solar Power Satellites

This illustration by Space Studies Institute Senior Associate Mark Martel shows the construction of an SSI-design solar power satellite built of lunar materials in geosynchronous orbit, where there is permanent sunshine. This array converts solar energy into radio energy; and sends that radio energy in a beam to a receiving antenna on the Earth for conversion to ordinary electricity. Those waves would be directed to a receiving antenna in the form of a flat array several miles in extent, held on poles above fields and meadows. This concept solves many of the environmental and limited energy resource problems plaguing our planet.

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