• Creation of the concept of space solar energy:In 1968, the American Peter Glaser introduced the concept of a large system of solar energy satellite receivers into geosynchronous orbit (located 36,000 km from the equator) for the acquisition and conversion of energy from the Sun and subsequent transmission to large receiving antennas located on Earth to meet energy consumption.
So the concept of space solar energy was born.In the 1970s, after the first oil crisis, the U.S. Department of Energy and NASA (the U.
S. space agency) began a study of the concept of solar energy in space. In 1979 they proposed a fleet of satellites in geostationary orbit, each of which would measure 5 x 10 km and produce between 5 and 10 GW. The construction involved the creation of a large space factory where hundreds of astronauts would work continually.
This gigantism was typical of an epoch in which the creation of large space cities was projected. Apart from the technical difficulties, the proposal was rejected in 1981 because it involved a crazy cost. In the mid-1980s, with oil back at low prices, the whole solar space program was cancelled. However, many renewable energy sources are limited in their potential because they require resources such as wind, rain or land. The viability study of the space solar power concept concluded that it is an option to consider because it has environmental advantages compared to alternative solutions and the investments required do not represent the incalculable cost that NASA could have imagined.
