Michael Fabey, Air Force explores space-based solar power, Aerospace Daily

& Defense Report, August 29, 2006, News; Pg. 1 Vol. 219 No. 40

Perhaps the hardest technological hurdle needed to be overcome would be developing a

rocket capable of putting the panels into space, Preble and other experts say. The currently planned
expendable rockets won't be able to do the job.And space itself is considered risky business.
Nearly every U.S. Air Force or other quasi-military satellite program is now behind schedule and over budget. "There are no
company(s), however, prepared to assume the immense financial risk of initiating
construction of (a space solar power system), however. It would be akin to asking a company to build Hoover Dam
or the interstate system without federal assistance," Preble says."There are simply too many engineering,
financial, regulatory and managerial risks for any group we have been able to identify to
undertake ...today."

No Author given, Pew Charitable Trusts Research Center on Global Problems,

Global Warming, Environment Reports, 2007

The world’s leading scientists agree that the planet is warming and that human activities—
especially the burning of fossil fuels and the clearing of forests—are a big part of the cause.In a
2007 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the international group of
scientists charged with reviewing, validating and summarizing the latest research concluded that
the warming of the climate system is unequivocal. They stated that it is 90 percent certain that
human-generated greenhouse gases account for most of the warming in the past 50 years.Many
published scientific reports have documented the actual observed impacts of a warming planet—
including dramatic melting of the Arctic ice cap, shifting wildlife habitats, increased evidence of
wildfires, heat waves and more intense storms. Americans are now seeing the impacts of global
warming in their backyards. The warming trend poses serious risks to the economy and the
environment.

Douglas Durante and Todd Sneller, Energy Security, , A Publication of Ethanol Across
America Summer 2005
5

Since 1949, U.S. interests and objectives in the region have included maintaining the
uninterrupted flow of Persian Gulf oil, ensuring the security of Israel, and promoting a comprehensive resolution
of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The 1990 Persian Gulf War provided the United States with first hand
experience of the cost of protecting oil supplies associated with an escalated military
conflict in the Middle East. “The original intent of Saddam Hussein,” said Senator John Glenn (R-OH) in 1990, “was to
take over 70% of the world’s known oil reserves. That would give him control over much of the energy for the whole industrialized
world.” The energy security cost to the U.S. of maintaining the uninterrupted flow of oil
from this area is approximately $50 billion per year, and depending on various assumptions in several
studies, can make the true cost of oil, counting military and energy security expenses, as high as $100-$150
per barrel. A study by the National Defense Council Foundation (NDCF) in 2003 provides the most in-depth examination of this
 subject since the 1987 study by the General Accounting office, which was prior to the first Gulf War. The NDCF study found that
The
America spends $49.1 billion defending Persian Gulf oil, adding more than one dollar to the cost of a gallon of gasoline.
study further concluded that the overall economic toll of this dependence on foreign oil is
staggering. The diversion of capital and investment resulting from spending nearly $100 billion annually on foreign oil, i.e.
money that would otherwise be spent in the U.S., costs the U.S. economy more than
800,000 jobs per year, and costs federal, state and local government treasuries $13.4
billion in lost revenues. A National Defense Council Foundation study found that when taken together, the
economic losses, the defense costs, and oil supply distribution costs bring the total cost of imported oil
to approximately $250 billion per year, or close to $4.00 per gallon over the current purchase prices of gasoline.

By Leonard David, Special Correspondent, Space News Space Based Solar Power Fuels
Vision of Global Energy Security, September 2007

The U.S. Department of Defense has an "absolute urgent need for energy," Smith said,
underscoring the concern that major powers around the world – not just the United States – could
end up in a major war of attrition in the 21st century. "We've got to make sure that we alleviate
the energy concerns around the globe," he said."Energy may well be the first tangible commodity
returned from space," said Joseph Rouge, Associate Director of the National Security Space
Office. "Geopolitics in general is going to be a large issue. I don't think there's any question that
energy is going to be one of the key next issues, along with water ... that's going to be the
competition we're going to fight."

Al Globus; AdAstra; Solar Power From Space: A Better Strategy for America and the
World?; May 17, 2007

SSP is environmentally friendly in the extreme. The microwave beams will heat the atmosphere slightly and the
frequency must be chosen to avoid cooking birds, but SSP has no emissions of any kind, and that's not all. Even
terrestrial solar and wind require mining all their materials on Earth, not so SSP. The satellites can be
built from lunar materials so only the materials for the receiving antennas (rectennas) need be mined on Earth. SSP is probably the
most environmentally benign possible large-scale energy source for Earth, there is far more than
enough for everyone, and the sun's energy will last for billions of years.