FYI,

"Battlefield Space"
The Daily Californian (Berkeley)
http://www.dailycal.org/particle.php?id=16493

: As the cost of space transport inevitably decreases, space-based
: solar power will become economically feasible. If it fulfills its
: potential for providing clean, renewable power, will space become
: the new Middle East?

: Space will likely become an important source of energy in the 21st
: century. The National Air and Space Administration's space solar
: power (SSP) program envisions orbiting satellites that collect
: solar energy without interference from cloud cover. These
: satellites would convert solar energy into microwaves and transmit
: them to receiver stations on Earth.

: NASA estimates that its baseline system would produce 10 to
: 100 gigawatts of renewable power, which is enough to provide
: electricity for 1 to 10 million Americans. It would cost more than
: nuclear power, one of the cheapest energy sources available.

: What does the X Prize have to do with SSP development? In 2001, the
: National Research Council published an optimistic evaluation of
: NASA's SSP research program, with one major reservation. According
: to the report, "the ultimate success of the terrestrial power
: application depends critically on dramatic reductions in the cost
: of transportation from Earth" to orbit.

: On National Public Radio, Gregg Maryniak, executive director of the
: X Prize, said the most important outcome of space travel is solar
: energy. "We know how to collect it; we know how to send it down to
: the earth, cleanly." There is plenty of energy available to
: harness, "but not if it costs $10,000 a pound to put things in
: space." Now that private industries, such as newly established
: Virgin Galactic, have a profit motive in space tourism, cheaper
: space transportation technology—and thus, space solar power—are on
: the horizon.

: But just as the discovery of oil in the Middle East set the stage
: for decades of conflict, the prospect of energy resources in space
: could drive its militarization. Because of its technological
: advantage, the United States has a clear shot at becoming the first—
: and perhaps the only—space energy prospector. In addition to
: peaceful uses, errant targeting of microwave transmissions—whether
: intentional or "accidental"—could fry circuits and bodies on the
: ground, an application foreseen by the inventor of wireless power
: transmission.

: Will humanity peacefully share the "international commons" of
: space? Or will we fight for dominion and the power to dispense
: energy or rain destruction from the heavens?

Mark Reiff