Solar Energy, a Green Technology, Has Roots Deep in the Space Program

As a former member of the House of Representatives whose legislative interests included energy, the environment and space exploration, I'm well aware that NASA innovation can help shape America's energy future, improve air quality and offset greenhouse gas emissions.

The United States is on a serious quest to free itself from a costly and worrisome dependence on foreign oil and depleting supplies of domestic petroleum, coal and natural gas.

The country is pushing forward, thanks to some timely incentives from the federal government and state agencies, and we're turning to renewable sources of energy, which will also help protect our environment.

October is Energy Awareness Month, and this year's theme, A Sustainable Energy Future: Putting All the Pieces Together, is especially timely.

With Presidential direction and Congressional support, NASA's wellspring of talent could help foster the creation of solar power satellites - spacecraft that circle the Earth and beam the energy they generate down to the ground for distribution as electricity.

One of our greatest resources is all around us - sun light. Each hour, the Earth receives more energy from the sun than the world's population consumes in one year. And our star promises to shine brightly for billions of years to come.

The International Space Station, a NASA-led project involving 15 nations and now the permanent home to six astronauts, serves as a highly visible symbol of how the sun's radiance can be harnessed. The station's outstretched solar panels generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 55 homes.

While it doesn't take a rocket scientist to appreciate solar power as an environmentally friendly source of energy, it will take that level of expertise to develop a practical, economic concept to collect the sun's radiance and relay this resource to Earth.

Space-based solar power, initially proposed in the late 1960s, is a concept whose time has finally come. I urge the White House, Congress and NASA to act now. Our nation needs its brightest minds to offer alternative thinking to help solve our ever-growing energy needs.

Since its birth in 1958, NASA has teamed with industry, academia and other federal agencies to offer the benefits from their cutting-edge research to those well outside the field of space exploration.

Environmentally friendly fuel cells have powered NASA's human spacecraft since the 1960s. Now, the world's automakers are turning to fuel cells as an alternative to fossil fuels. NASA's legacy also includes work with wind turbines and biofuels, two more promising renewable energy sources.

NASA and the space industry have many bright people who have great dreams and have proven the ability to make these dreams become reality. These innovators need our support now more than ever.

-Nick Lampson