Aerospace Corp.’s James Vedda, Karen Jones: US Should Consider Space Solar Power Investments

James Vedda, a senior policy analyst at the Aerospace Corp.’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy, has said the U.S. should consider investing in space solar energy to support long-distance wireless power transmission.

Vedda said at a media briefing this week that the government and its industry partners need to build modular spacecraft designed to support in-orbit assembly and testing for space solar power efforts, SpaceNews reported Tuesday.

Karen Jones, senior project leader and technology strategist at CSPS, noted that the emerging form of power transmission has “dramatic implications for all sectors of space activity and possibly terrestrial energy infrastructure here on Earth.”

Jones, who co-authored a paper titled “Space-Based Solar Power: a Near-Term Investment Decision” with Vedda, said the U.S. needs to allocate funds for space solar power and manage resources to avoid redundancies.

“Our paper calls for a much more coordinated and consistent investment plan to attract partners from the private sector, and to also reach out to international partners to better analyze and coordinate our activities for this important type of research,” she noted.