Space Infrastructure Options for Space Based Solar Power

This paper presents a survey of the space infrastructure that has been and is being proposed in support of Space Based Solar Power (SBSP) and offers insights into what may be needed if SBSP is to be implemented in the 2015-2020 timeframe. The concept of Solar Power Satellites (SPS) was first described in 1968 and Dr. Peter Glaser was awarded patent 3,781,647 in 1973. Definitive study contracts on SPS Architectures were conducted for NASA by Boeing and Rockwell in 1979. Using lunar resources to fabricate Solar Power Satellites (SPS) has been studied as a means of reducing implementation cost but with a commensurate increase in infrastructure requirements. The Fresh Look Study, funded by NASA, in 1997 assessed the impact technology advances had on the 1979 Reference Concept and developed alternate SPS and infrastructure concepts. During the summer of 2007, the National Security Space Office led a web-based open study on SBSP and issued its interim report on 10 October 2007. Over the decades and across various studies, presumed supporting infrastructure for SBSP has changed drastically. Early studies envisioned large transportation systems, large assembly nodes and thousands of personnel in LEO to implement SBSP capability. On the other extreme, low-cost access to space coupled with autonomous robotic assembly are seen as an approach to making SBSP economically viable. Capabilities and concepts from Earth to orbit transportation to lunar bases to on-orbit maintenance support systems are discussed in this review of the history of SBSP supporting infrastructure concluding with an assessment of SBSP economic viability.