Orbital debris could block all these benefits for centuries and prevent us from developing clean energy sources like space solar power satellites, exploring our Solar System and someday making humanity a multi-planetary civilization capable of surviving true climatic catastrophes.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and CEO of SpaceX, held court on space travel, solar power and electric cars at South By Southwest Saturday.
That could happen about five years from now, perhaps using a laser on the International Space Station to transmit solar power collected by its panels to Earth.
Those companies included Vivint in the home security space and SunPower, a solar panel maker and power plant developer.
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Saudi Arabia is the newest and hottest solar power market to attract the attention of emerging leaders in the solar-energy space.
Given the risks of aiming such a powerful beam of high-intensity radiation at an Earth ground station, as well as the cost of building billions of dollars in infrastructure to collect the energy in space, the efficiencies you can get from terrestrial solar power seem a safer bet--at least for now.
Many of our apartment buildings do not have the space and sunlight needed for current solar technologies to provide enough power to warrant investment.
From news that Germany met half the country's energy needs with solar power to an Egyptian teenager who built a new quantum space propulsion system, 2012 was a big year for clean tech.
Technologically, spin-offs from the space program have revolutionized fields from medicine to energy generation (solar panels were made to power satellites) to breakfast drinks.
It could be attached to folding solar panels of the sort used in space missions, and back on Earth it could provide portable power in deserts or at the poles.
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