The National Space Society held a press conference this morning to announce a breakthrough in wireless power transmission.  In a demonstration, they’ve been able to transmit power wirelessly a distance of 148km between Hawaiian islands.  This distance, when pointed straight up, is great enough to reach up into the Thermosphere beyond the accepted boundary between our planet and space.  The idea is that solar panels can be launched into space where they can collect energy, and “beam” that energy back down to Earth.

This has a few important implications.  Above the Earth’s atmosphere, solar power is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  The energy is available in its most concentrated form, without any of it having been diffused, absorbed, or reflected by our atmosphere.  There’s no such thing as cloud cover above the atmosphere.  With the ability to transmit it wirelessly, it can theoretically be beamed down to any location on Earth, powering up otherwise hard to reach places, underdeveloped areas, or potentially restoring emergency power during a disaster.

The NSS has created a 2 minute video demonstation of the wireless transmission technology:

The downside of course, is having to launch massive objects into space that would dwarf even the International Space Station.  NSS is confident this will be possible, and possible soon.  With the issue of wireless power transmission solved, the last major hurdle is cost-effective and efficient launch vehicles.  Just a few days ago, another commercial enterprise SpaceX was granted license to use the Cape Canavral launch site.  It’s nice to see private enterprises pushing space technology forward, looking for ways to put it to practical use, and most of all, to see that for a change the government isn’t hindering the process! So while we’re not 100% there, there are pieces falling into place that might make big ideas like this a reality.

The NSS conference this morning was to raise awareness of the technology, and to plug Discovery Project Earth: Orbital Power Plant, which airs on the Discovery channel tonight at 10PM EST.  If you’re interested in seeing more about this tech, you’ll probably want to tune in, as the NSS project will be the topic.

NASA has also published an informational DVD about solar power in space that you can watch in its entirety free of charge here care of NSS & Google Video.

It’s fair to say that dwindling energy resources and ever growing demand is eventually going to shape up to be one of the greatest challenges ever to face all of mankind.  We know we need to act, and we’re starting to realize that we’re already behind the ball.  Unfortunately, now is a confusing time to be alive.  The lip service is building and it’s coming full force from every direction.  We’ve got “ideas” coming from our politicians who in many cases have “solutions” probably designed to garner votes than to actually solve anything.  We have activist groups who have answers that fit their agendas but put up barriers to ideas that don’t fit their ideals.  We have folks like T. Boone Pickens and Al Gore claiming to have it all figured out – but a look into their investment portfolios makes one wonder what it is they’re trying to solve.

What’s missing from all these ideas and plans being thrown around?  How about some cold hard facts?  Some actual numbers?  When they say “we have huge wind and solar resources,” wouldn’t it be nice to know what exactly “huge” meant? (more…)