Hefty technological obstacles remain, but SBSP’s potential to provide clean, inexhaustible energy warrants a concerted public research and development effort In the late 1960s, enterprising scientist Peter Glaser proposed using orbiting satellites to collect incoming solar radiation, transform it into microwaves, and beam it down to focused receivers on Earth where it would be converted into electricity. Although space-based solar power (SBSP) sounds like science fiction, scientists and engineers have explored developing the futuristic technology for decades but repeatedly came to the same conclusion: SBSP is likely technologically possible but for it to be feasible, launch costs will have to come down considerably. Now that companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Rocket Lab have demonstrated re-use capabilities and launch costs are plummeting, it is time to think seriously and boldly about the development of SBSP. It is difficult to overstate the benefits of SBSP. For one, it could eventually provide inexhaustible clean energy to civilians because SBSP produces no harmful byproducts and uses solar radiation as its fuel. The United States could also use SBSP to create a dynamic national energy system modeled after the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. If the United States had a national SBSP constellation when Texas experienced widespread outages in February, the federal government could have supplied emergency power to civilians instantly. Scientists and engineers have even proposed using SBSP to power lunar exploration and resource extraction operations in the moon’s permanently shaded regions (PSRs), where traditional solar power would be impossible to utilize. SBSP has enormous military uses as well. The military could use SBSP to power remote bases instead of using dangerous fuel convoys that cost up to hundreds of dollars per gallon. SBSP could also theoretically be used to power unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), allowing them to stay in the air until their components fail. Removing energy as a limiting factor in military operations stands to radically change conventional military doctrine. In recognition of the vast potential of SBSP, nations around the world have begun heavily investing in the potentially transformative technology. Japan enacted legislation in 2009 that requires its government to research SBSP and plans to build a 1 GW system in the 2030s. The European Union and India have also begun considering SBSP as a potential power system for the future. No country, though, has approached China’s interest and level of investment. China has built the world’s first SBSP base plant and plans to build a 100 kW satellite in LEO by 2025, a 1 mW satellite in GEO by 2035, and a full, commercial satellite in 2050. Since SBSP could be a transformative technology, it is reasonable to ask why the United States is not investing heavily in SBSP. In fairness, the United States has launched a few research projects like the Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Lectenna, Photovoltaic Radio-frequency Antenna Module (PRAM), and Power Transmitted Over Laser (PTROL) experiments. The Department of Defense also launched a 100 million dollar partnership with Northrop Grumman on Space Solar Power Incremental Demonstrations and Research (SSPIDR), which aims to launch an SBSP demonstration spacecraft called Arachne in 2024. Still, though, the United States lacks a clear plan for SBSP and is dangerously at risk of falling behind its competitors. To position itself well for the future, the United States should begin treating space-based solar power like the groundbreaking technology that it could be. The government could start by naming a point organization to coordinate and lead SBSP research. Naming a lead organization will give SBSP a congressional “cheerleader” to attract federal funding while also clarifying domestic and international regulatory responsibilities. The United States should also engage the private sector by subsidizing research and development of SBSP. As it stands, SBSP is likely viewed as too risky for robust private investment, but if the government shouldered some of the cost, as it does with other forms of green energy, the private sector might be more willing to develop SBSP capabilities. Lastly, the government should fund a full-scale technology demonstration of SBSP. There are still some hefty technological obstacles like thermal issues related to building at scale and inexperience with space construction that remain. Launching a concerted, public research and development program under the auspices of a selected point organization could spark private sector interest while mitigating the remaining technological challenges. As the United States approaches the middle of the 21st century, it must think audaciously and strategically about the future. Taking steps to bring SBSP out of science fiction and into reality would be a bold and necessary move to ensure the country is prepared for the challenges that lay ahead.

Impenetrable Barrier 11,500 km above Earth An invisible shield some 7,200 miles above Earth that blocks so-called 'killer electrons,' which whip around the planet at near-light speed and have been known to threaten astronauts, fry satellites and degrade space systems during intense solar storms. The barrier to the particle motion was discovered in the Van Allen radiation belts, two doughnut-shaped rings above Earth that are filled with high-energy electrons and protons, said Distinguished Professor Daniel Baker, director of CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). Held in place by Earth's magnetic field, the Van Allen radiation belts periodically swell and shrink in response to incoming energy disturbances from the sun. As the first significant discovery of the space age, the Van Allen radiation belts were detected in 1958 by Professor James Van Allen and his team at the University of Iowa and were found to be composed of an inner and outer belt extending up to 25,000 miles above Earth's surface. In 2013, Baker -- who received his doctorate under Van Allen -- led a team that used the twin Van Allen Probes launched by NASA in 2012 to discover a third, transient "storage ring" between the inner and outer Van Allen radiation belts that seems to come and go with the intensity of space weather. The latest mystery revolves around an "extremely sharp" boundary at the inner edge of the outer belt at roughly 7,200 miles in altitude that appears to block the ultrafast electrons from breeching the shield and moving deeper towards Earth's atmosphere. "It's almost like theses electrons are running into a glass wall in space," said Baker, the study's lead author. "Somewhat like the shields created by force fields on Star Trek that were used to repel alien weapons, we are seeing an invisible shield blocking these electrons. It's an extremely puzzling phenomenon." A paper on the subject was published in the Nov. 27 issue of Nature. The team originally thought the highly charged electrons, which are looping around Earth at more than 100,000 miles per second, would slowly drift downward into the upper atmosphere and gradually be wiped out by interactions with air molecules. But the impenetrable barrier seen by the twin Van Allen belt spacecraft stops the electrons before they get that far, said Baker. The group looked at a number of scenarios that could create and maintain such a barrier. The team wondered if it might have to do with Earth's magnetic field lines, which trap and control protons and electrons, bouncing them between Earth's poles like beads on a string. The also looked at whether radio signals from human transmitters on Earth could be scattering the charged electrons at the barrier, preventing their downward motion. Neither explanation held scientific water. "Nature abhors strong gradients and generally finds ways to smooth them out, so we would expect some of the relativistic electrons to move inward and some outward," said Baker. "It's not obvious how the slow, gradual processes that should be involved in motion of these particles can conspire to create such a sharp, persistent boundary at this location in space." Another scenario is that the giant cloud of cold, electrically charged gas called the plasmasphere, which begins about 600 miles above Earth and stretches thousands of miles into the outer Van Allen belt, is scattering the electrons at the boundary with low frequency, electromagnetic waves that create a plasmapheric "hiss," said Baker. The hiss sounds like white noise when played over a speaker. While Baker said plasmaspheric hiss may play a role in the puzzling space barrier, he believes there is more to the story. "I think the key here is to keep observing the region in exquisite detail, which we can do because of the powerful instruments on the Van Allen probes. If the sun really blasts Earth's magnetosphere with a coronal mass ejection (CME), I suspect it will breach the shield for a period of time," said Baker, also a faculty member in the astrophysical and planetary sciences department. "It's like looking at the phenomenon with new eyes, with a new set of instrumentation, which give us the detail to say, 'Yes, there is this hard, fast boundary,'" said John Foster, associate director of MIT's Haystack Observatory and a study co-author.

Interstellar travel is crewed or uncrewed travel between stars or planetary systems. Interstellar travel would be much more difficult than interplanetary spaceflight. Whereas the distances between the planets in the Solar System are less than 30 astronomical units (AU), the distances between stars are typically hundreds of thousands of AU, and usually expressed in light-years. Because of the vastness of those distances, practical interstellar travel based on known physics would need to occur at a high percentage of the speed of light, allowing for significant travel times, at least decades to perhaps millennia or longer. The speeds required for interstellar travel in a human lifetime far exceed what current methods of spacecraft propulsion can provide. Even with a hypothetically perfectly efficient propulsion system, the kinetic energy corresponding to those speeds is enormous by today's standards of energy development. Moreover, collisions by the spacecraft with cosmic dust and gas can produce very dangerous effects both to passengers and the spacecraft itself. A number of strategies have been proposed to deal with these problems, ranging from giant arks that would carry entire societies and ecosystems, to microscopic space probes. Many different spacecraft propulsion systems have been proposed to give spacecraft the required speeds, including nuclear propulsion, beam-powered propulsion, and methods based on speculative physics.

A series of unique and beautiful recorded views of planet Earth captured from 240 miles above it. We look down on our planet along with the astronauts aboard the ISS A wonderful relaxing view - sit back and enjoy the spectacular awe of planet Earth These recorded videos offer a unique and spectacular view of our home - the majority of these videos will not be found elsewhere and were created especially for Space VIdeos.

Interstellar travel is the term used for hypothetical crewed or uncrewed travel between stars or planetary systems. Interstellar travel will be much more difficult than interplanetary spaceflight; the distances between the planets in the Solar System are less than 30 astronomical units (AU)—whereas the distances between stars are typically hundreds of thousands of AU, and usually expressed in light-years. Because of the vastness of those distances, interstellar travel would require a high percentage of the speed of light; huge travel time, lasting from decades to millennia or longer; or a combination of both. The speeds required for interstellar travel in a human lifetime far exceed what current methods of spacecraft propulsion can provide. Even with a hypothetically perfectly efficient propulsion system, the kinetic energy corresponding to those speeds is enormous by today's standards of energy production. Moreover, collisions by the spacecraft with cosmic dust and gas can produce very dangerous effects both to passengers and the spacecraft itself. A number of strategies have been proposed to deal with these problems, ranging from giant arks that would carry entire societies and ecosystems, to microscopic space probes. Many different spacecraft propulsion systems have been proposed to give spacecraft the required speeds, including nuclear propulsion, beam-powered propulsion, and methods based on speculative physics.

Interstellar travel is the term used for hypothetical crewed or uncrewed travel between stars or planetary systems. Interstellar travel will be much more difficult than interplanetary spaceflight; the distances between the planets in the Solar System are less than 30 astronomical units (AU)—whereas the distances between stars are typically hundreds of thousands of AU, and usually expressed in light-years. Because of the vastness of those distances, interstellar travel would require a high percentage of the speed of light; huge travel time, lasting from decades to millennia or longer; or a combination of both. The speeds required for interstellar travel in a human lifetime far exceed what current methods of spacecraft propulsion can provide. Even with a hypothetically perfectly efficient propulsion system, the kinetic energy corresponding to those speeds is enormous by today's standards of energy production. Moreover, collisions by the spacecraft with cosmic dust and gas can produce very dangerous effects both to passengers and the spacecraft itself. A number of strategies have been proposed to deal with these problems, ranging from giant arks that would carry entire societies and ecosystems, to microscopic space probes. Many different spacecraft propulsion systems have been proposed to give spacecraft the required speeds, including nuclear propulsion, beam-powered propulsion, and methods based on speculative physics.

The Perseid Meteor Shower is an annual meteor shower that peaks around August 12 or August 13. Annual meteor showers occur when Earth passes through the debris of the comets and asteroids around the Sun. The parent body responsible for Perseids is the comet Swift-Tuttle. You don't need any telescopes or binoculars to watch the Perseid meteor shower 2020. Just find a dark place and give your eyes time to adapt. The radiant of the Perseid meteor shower lies in the constellation Perseus.