Space-based solar power — which, in theory, could produce a global supply of affordable, inexhaustible, clean energy — appears to have captured the imagination and commitment of public and private organizations around the world.
In August, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) received a $100 million gift from the Donald Bren Foundation in support of the institution’s Space Solar Power Project, which seeks to collect solar energy in space and transmit it wirelessly to Earth through microwaves.
Ali Hajimiri, professor of electrical engineering at Caltech and co-director of the space solar program, was quoted in Forbes saying: “Above the Earth, there’s no day and night cycle and no clouds or weather or anything else that might obstruct the sun’s rays, so a constant power source is available.”
Though it sounds like science fiction, scientists working on behalf of the Pentagon have successfully collected solar energy in outer space