Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/356
47 WWW.hPLUSMAgAzIne.CoM every space solar power satellite we build is a part of the infrastructure of a new economy. It's a way station on the way to the stars. earthbound solar collectors (and with wind), is that it would be distributed. You wouldn't so much be building huge solar farms, you'd have solar collectors pasted everywhere – (and I believe thin, sheet-like solar power collectors have already been developed…correct me if I'm wrong). hb: Like you, RU, I'm a personal fan of distributed power systems. I suspect that, like the Internet, a highly parallel- distributed system with power generation in your home would be more blackout-proof than centralized systems. Personal power generators would also increase our sense of control over our lives. When I fi rst got involved in space solar power, I asked if this power could be distributed. That is, could the city of Milwaukee have its own space solar power satellite? Could the kids in buffalo, nY (my home town) chip in ten dollars each — the way we did when I was a kid to build our fi rst big-league sports team, the buffalo bills? And could we use our pooled greenbacks to get our own satellite? The answer I got was yes. Then there's distributing the power. Space solar power can be beamed down to remote locations, electrifying distant villages in Asia and Africa that are very hard and very expensive to reach by the traditional wiring systems we have in north America. but my suspicion — from James Michael Snead's Space Development Steering Committee study — is that it would be very diffi cult to electrify your house, heat it, charge your car, and power your offi ce with only solar panels on your roof and a windmill above your chimney. h+: I'm glad to see people dreaming about space colonization again. I've heard rumors that there's a resurgence of interest in these ideas at NASA. Can you confi rm or comment on this? hb: now that the bush mind-freeze is ending, I hear new rumors about the thaw at nASA weekly. Dreams that have been unthinkable for eight years are reviving. The presidential election is tomorrow as I type this. We'll see what impact the mix of political change and economic crash has on our ability to fantasize and to make those fantasies come true. The ability to turn fantasy into reality is at the heart of the human evolutionary process and at the cutting edge of nature's techniques for creation. Its revival — whether here, in China or in India — is a necessity. The bottom line is this. We have to bring space to life by bringing life to space. economies go through mega-crashes roughly once every 70 years. It's been that way since the tulipmania crash of roughly 1637. What lifts economies from those massive falls? new frontiers, new resources, new technologies; new ways to turn toxic wastes into energy and new techniques that turn garbage into gold. We evolved as humans by turning hostile environments to advantage. We evolved as humans by fi nding ways to live on the edges of Ice Age glaciers and on the fringes of deserts. We evolved by outfoxing 60 freezes and 18 periods of massive global warming. Today we have a new frontier whose potential is larger than any hostile horizon we've ever conquered before. It's a new frontier not just for human beings but also for entire ecosystems — for meshes of living beings from bacteria and algae to trees, cats, and puppies. It's a massive niche waiting to be greened. And we are the only beings on this planet that can reach it. We are the only ones who can green it. That vast new landscape hangs above our head. every space solar power satellite we build is a part of the infrastructure of a new economy. It's a way station on the way to the stars. generators would also increase our sense of When I fi rst got involved in space solar power, I asked if this power could be distributed. That is, could the city of Milwaukee have its own space solar power satellite? Could the kids in buffalo, nY (my home town) chip in ten dollars each — the way we did when I was a kid to build our fi rst big-league sports team, the buffalo bills? And could we use our pooled greenbacks to get our own satellite? The answer I got was Then there's distributing the power. Space solar power can be beamed down to remote locations, electrifying distant villages in Asia and Africa that are very hard and very expensive to reach by the traditional wiring systems we have in north America. but my suspicion — from James Michael Snead's Space Development Steering Committee study — is that it would be very diffi cult to electrify your house, heat economic crash has on our ability to fantasize and to make those fantasies come true. The ability to turn fantasy into reality is at the heart of the human evolutionary process and at the cutting edge of nature's techniques for creation. Its revival — whether here, in China or in India — is a necessity. The bottom line is this. We have to bring space to life by bringing life to space. economies go through mega-crashes roughly once every 70 years. It's been that way since the tulipmania crash of roughly 1637. What lifts economies from those massive falls? new frontiers, new resources, new technologies; new ways to turn toxic wastes into energy and new techniques that turn beings on this planet that can reach it. We are the only ones who can green it. That vast new landscape hangs above our head. part of the infrastructure of a new economy. part of the infrastructure of a new economy.