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In our context, Power Beaming refers to the extraction of useable electrical power from a directed electromagnetic beam. In order to promote interest in this technology, the Spaceward Foundation proposed and is managing a technology prize challenge based on a Space Elevator design scenario. The challenge has a prize purse of $2M, provided by NASA's Centennial Challenges office. This paper covers the considerations that went into the design of the challenge, a brief chronology of past results, and plans for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaic technology has reached a point where its cost and capability make it one of a handful of carbon-free sources of electrical energy that could meet a meaningful fraction of US energy demand. In this paper we will first compare Photovoltaics with several other carbon free energy technologies, then look at the economics of Solyndra's rooftop photovoltaic solution as an example of the current state of the art, as well as the market dynamics that have resulted in dramatically faster adoption in Germany vs. the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildup and development of a lunar outpost / base will be an incremental and alternated process of crew, logistics, hardware, and science payload deliveries. To better plan the resources and technological objectives for each increment, one may examine the operational and technological requirements for a “midterm” phase and project backwards to derive and strategize requirements and resources for each stage of the development. This comprehensive characterization of the midterm phase will ultimately provide the waypoint by which later development phases can be more effectively planned. A unique and critical engineering and architectural view of a midterm waypoint and the roadmap to achieve the goals and capabilities at that milestone was generated. Data to derive the process and midterm outpost design was acquired during a recent comprehensive National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) research project. Current and soon to be state-of-the-art, viable, proven technologies to support an effective and resourceful outpost design including rigidizable, inflatable structures, hybridized in-situ and imported materials utilization, and environmentally-responsive structures considering thermal, radiation, topographical, low-gravity, crew and transport mobility, habitability, and logistics aspects were investigated and applied. Adjacency analyses were performed to optimize the arrangement of spaces. Additionally, an inventive, internal, organizational architectural system that maps and coordinates lunar and Earth contingency planning configurations and activities, and assists fabrication and layout processes and techniques was derived. © 2007 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The KidSAT/EarthKAM program is a NASA educational initiative that allows students to develop and operate a remote sensing space program. The first phase of the program consisted of a student developed camera that is flown on Space Shuttle missions in the nadir window. A network of students develop a series of image acquisition requests, based on approved science proposals, that are combined into a set of instrument commands that are uplinked to the space shuttle. Acquired images are downlinked and archived for student access in completing their research. The International Space Station provides a unique platform for the next generation of KidSAT/EarthKAM instruments, which will allow more students to participate in the program and enable development of more sophisticated instruments. Follow-on instruments consist of Earth-looking multispectral digital sensors mounted in the optical window and on the express pallet, and radar instruments located on the express pallet. Use of the International Space Station will allow routine data acquisition and enable the instrument to be part of regular science curricula unconstrained by the Space Shuttle launch schedule. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]