Go.
SSI Senior Associate Dr. Sanjay Vijendran, Director of Space Energy Insights, and former lead for the European Space Agency’s SOLARIS SBSP Initiative invites you to a gathering. It’s The International Conference on Energy From Space 2025, to be held at the Mandelieu-La Napoule Congress and Exhibition Centre in Cannes, France Wednesday November 19th. 2025 to Friday November 21st. 2025.
This is the second SPS gathering organized by Dr. Vijendran, the first being the 2024 event in London which was truly eye-opening even for long time Space Based Solar Power workers. The existential perspective of Europeans is different from that of many of us folks in the United States and it shows at a meeting like this and that is, in itself, good research and worth even an “Expert’s” sincere consideration.
Please take a look at the program. Yes, for most it is not a simple little trip, but… Take a look:
Go on Take A look:
This year SSI will not officially be there, having said our piece last year in London, but “we” will be there and we wish Sanjay and all, all of the very best.
Watch.
Recently a long-time Associate looked inside some boxes that had been just carried from place to place out of habit over the years.. and found some stuff that belonged to the SSI family of Analysts, Researchers and Friends.
There was a LOT. It will take us some time to move it all from organization to analysis to release but rest assured we are working on it (Time and Money, mostly Money). But here’s one we rushed through for you… A tax-payer paid-for video from a few years after the famous John Mankins 1990’s “Fresh Look” SPS project.
NASA GRC-408 Space Solar Power: Exploring New Frontiers For Tomorrow’s Energy Needs
Host: John Mankins with Introductions and Afterwords from Dr. Peter Glaser and a cast of thousands (ok, tens… but that’s still quite a cast!).
If you watch it directly on the SSI Youtube Channel you can jump between chapters, but we did a little bit of cleanup on the original to make it a bit less “jumpy” for people who want to watch it smoothly flow from start to finish.
The Chapters:
00:00:00 SSI Intro
00:00:28 John Mankins SPS Background
00:03:05 Dr. Peter Glaser, Inventor of SPS
00:05:38 SPS Preview, Goldstone to Lunar SPS
00:09:05 John Mankins
00:10:10 Microwave Transmission, Dr. Richard Dickinson (JPL)
00:12:30 Laser Transmission
00:14:00 Harvey Feingold, Ph.D, SAIC. SPS Technical Options
00:18:52 Technologies to Deliver Power
00:21:21 John Mankins on Coopetitive Technologies
00:22:23 Aloysius Hepp, Ph.D, NASA Glenn. Thin Film Solar Cells
00:26:50 Sheila Bailey, Ph.D, NASA Glenn. Quantum Dot Cells
00:29:50 Rainbow Prism Array Concentrator
00:31:55 Wayne Wong, NASA Glenn. Secondary Solar Concentrator
00:35:09 Power Tile Devices
00:38:54 Dale Ferguson, Ph.D, NASA Glenn. Arc Mitigation
00:41:50 John Mankins. Photovoltaic Array Regulators
00:42:54 James Dolce, NASA Glenn. Microwave and Laser System Regulators
00:48:42 John Mankins, Materials and Structures
00:49:23 Inflatable Structures Ansd Materials
00:51:29 Judith Watson, NASA Langley. Rigidized Inflatable Trusses
00:53:16 Jessica Woods-Vedeler, NASA Langley. Isogrid Booms
00:55:20 Other Inflatable Options
00:57:50 Lucas Horta, Ph.D, NASA Langely. Hexapod
01:00:27 John Mankins
01:01:48 Future Spaceport
01:02:35 Steven Oleson, Ph.D, NASA Glenn. Hall/MPD Propulsion
01:05:30 Future Transportation Benefits.
01:06:06 John Mankins. robots
01:07:09 Dr. Robert Ambrose, NASA Johnson. Robo-Naut
01:09:45 L.E.M.U.R.
01:11:15 John Mankins. Acknowledging General Fear
01:12:15 Plant Response to Microwaves
01:14:54 John Mankins. Direct Spinoffs
01:15:17 Spacecraft Configurations
01:18:00 HALO Concept
01:20:30 Micro-Electro Mechanical System
01:23:00 John Mankins. Indirect Benefits
01:24:09 Kevin Belvin, Ph.D, NASA Langley. Solar Sail Test Bed
01:26:08 Dr. Leik Myrabo, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Dr. James Benford, Microwave Sciences Inc.. Solar Sail Applications
01:29:10 Robotic Rover
01:30:16 Novel Actuator
01:33:10 Dr. Peter Glaser: Reasons for Solar Power Satellites
01:35:45 Dr. Peter Glaser: International Interest
01:38:48 Dr. Peter Glaser: Concerns
01:41:30 Dr. Peter Glaser: Final Thoughts
01:42:10 Contact Information
And Read.
You did know about that “Fresh Look” program at NASA in the 1990s, right? After decades – DECADES – of studies upon studies it all started just looking like rote habit, but then some people with insight and backbones restarted the in-house meetings over the basics of Solar Power Satellites and a bit of funding and appearance of support came through from on high. John Mankins was the face and the hands of it all. And when it was done from 1995 to 1997 there was released a document. It’s the book you see at the top of the heap in the picture at the top of this page:
SPACE SOLAR POWER
A Fresh Look At The Feasibility Of Generating Solar Power In Space For Use On Earth
Prepared by:
Science Applications International Corporation:
Harvey Feingold
Michael Stancati
Alan Friedlander
Mark Jacobs
Futron Corporation:
Doug Comstock
Carissa Christensen
Gregg Maryniak
Scott Rix
And, of course:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
John C. Mankins
If you have read John Mankins’ The Case For Space Solar Power (and you should) then you will spot some interesting things in this one. A White paper from Dr. Bill Brown, a NASA Document actually using the words “Mass-Driver”, and hey.. yes that is the writing of Dr. Gay Canough (She is like the Forrest Gump of Space, huh? The ISU, SSI, Lunar Prospector.. and on and on and on! And btw, there’s a great picture of Dr. Gay halfway down this page).
I may write like I am joking, but I am 100% completely serious when I tell you: We cleaned this up page by page and offer it to you here because it is *ABSOLUTELY* worth your time to read.
From the Research Library of the Space Studies Institute, ENJOY!
MORE?
You want more?
You can have more. MUCH MORE. At the Special SPS Section of SSI.ORG
Oh, just one more thing:
https://energyfromspace.org/program/
Go. And remind the ones who need to be reminded: Hardware.
