Projecting power: The security implications of space-based implications of space-based

摘要

Space-based solar power is a system for delivering a potentially limitless supply of clean energy to a worldndesperately searching for alternatives to fossil fuels. However, while the system offers the promise of unlimited,nògreenó electrical power, it also has immense potential as a geopolitical tool. For example, this new powernsource could be used to support troops, rebels, or international aid workers virtually anywhere in the world.nSpace solar power research has recently experienced something of a renaissance, but so far there has beennvery little discussion about the security implications of this potentially transformative technology. While itnwill be at least a decade, if not two, before the infrastructure for deploying a full-scale system exists, developingnpolicies and norms裪nternational and national裞apable of effectively engaging such a technically andnpolitically complex issue can itself require years of work. Policy makers and political scientists should beginndebating the security impacts of space-based solar power now, lest technological development outpace thenability of governments and international institutions to meaningfully assimilate it.