Your Future: Never out of Touch - cont'd

Power from space

While some new satellite applications have begun to take shape, others -- like vast solar power plants beaming microwave energy back to Earth -- have yet to be realized. But that doesn't mean researchers aren't working on them.

"I think we need a renewable energy initiative, and part of it should include these space solar power plants," says Martin Hoffert, a physics professor at New York University who specializes in alternative energy technology.

Space Solar Power (or SSP) could be harvested by satellites using immense solar panels, which then beam the energy to receiving stations on the ground. There are still a number of hurdles facing such systems, not the least of which is lack of funding, Hoffert said.

"The problem right now is that NASA does not have dedicated funds for this," he told SPACE.com.

John Mankins, NASA's chief technologist for space flight enterprise, said the last fully-funded SSP study by the agency concluded in 2001, although a joint study with the National Science Foundation is still underway and scheduled to wrap up soon.

Interest in SSP won't vanish soon, especially since more dedicated projects are underway in Europe and Japan, Mankins said.