A CNN news report cites a 2007 Pentagon study to illustrate the possibilities of using satellites to farm the sun for our energy needs.

As crude prices spiral in a free fall, energy concerns have started biting more than pockets. The global energy crisis it seems is upon us. Perhaps, it’s now time to look heavenwards...The Almighty might not be the solution but one of his creations could provide the solutions to our petro-woes. The sun is what gives us life in the first place, and if the economics of it all falls into place in the near future, it could very well be the answer to all our energy needs. Here’s the Eureka thought -

An array of geosynchronous satellites using giant solar collectors would catch the rays of the sun and beam it beam it electromagnetically back to Earth to special stations which would further transmit it to the power grid. Space offers numerous advantages especially non interference of the Earth’s atmosphere and access to sunlight for 365 days and ‘nights’ a year.

A 2007 report released by the Pentagon’s National Security Space Office had this to say.

” 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.”

Why was the Pentagon so interested in the Sun? It seems as the report elaborates, solar energy from satellites could provide power for global U.S. military operations and deliver energy to disaster areas and developing nations.

Harvesting solar power is definitely not a new or an abstruse concept. The basic science behind it has existed for many years. In 1968, American scientist Peter Glaser was the first scientist who propounded on the idea of solar power. In 1973 he was granted the U.S. patent on the Solar Power Satellite to supply power from space for use on the Earth. NASA and the United States Department of Energy studied the concept throughout the 1970s. They concluded that though the technology is feasible, the stumbling blocks are the enormous costs involved. John Mankins, a former NASA technologist and president of the Space Power Association puts a figure somewhere close to $1 Trillion. Though from those initial days, technologies have improved and concurrent costs have come down, the price tag is still out of reach.

But the dawn of our century is bringing a lot of external forces which is making mandarins and boffins do a rethink. Rising fuel prices, environmental degradation et all says that the idea should be revisited. Here’s where this recent Pentagon report recommending the U.S to pursue this sun-tech assumes significance. Also according to the report, Russia, China, the European Union and India are looking at this technology. India and China are the world’s most rapidly growing economies with surging energy needs. Even a ’small’ country like Japan which imports most of its oil is working towards a small scale demo model of solar harvesting.

But like any new technology the chasm remains between theory and its actual practice. As Jeff Keuter, president of the George C. Marshall Institute, a Washington-based research organization says,

” Like any activity in space, there are enormous engineering challenges. 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.”

Money apart, other technological constraints include, reliable access to space, complexity of construction huge chains of satellites; something which is being borne out by the International Space Station.

The International Space Station has shown the inherent complexities but it has also shown the remarkable co-operation between nations as joint stakeholders in this unique project. Something similar needs to be attempted for the solar satellites because its success will not only determine availability of cheap abundant power but could in one stroke remove the root cause of so many internecine conflicts over energy we face today and definitely will tomorrow.