US startup Helio makes the case for space based solar power.

[casey@newsie.social]

US startup Helio makes the case for space based solar power.

Space Solar Power Will Inevitably Trump Trump's Energy Policy

The space solar field is emerging from science fiction to fact, regardless of US energy policy favoring fossil fuels.

CleanTechnica (cleantechnica.com)

#solar #solarpower #spacesolar #spacebasedsolar #solarpowerplants #space #aerospace #renewableenergy #renewables #greenenergy #cleanenergy #sustainable #sustainability #outerspace #us #startups #innovation

[michaelgemar@mstdn.ca]

@Casey But *why*?! Terrestrial solar is absurdly cheap, the cheapest way to produce electricity by far. Panel efficiency and cost are continually improving. Storage tech is getting better and better. And it’s not like we’re running out of land to site solar farms.

It’s vastly easier to install, maintain, repair, upgrade, and expand terrestrial infrastructure.

(And of course space-based power will still need huge swaths of land for receiver farms.)

Like mining lunar Helium-3 for fusion fuel, space -based solar power is a solution looking for a problem, promoted by people who are not concerned about power generation, but instead concerned about finding justifications to do stuff in space.