America needs a National Astroelectricity Energy Security Transition Policyby Mike Snead
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| Unless America aggressively undertakes an orderly transition to sustainable energy, America will economically falter, permanently. |
I applaud President Trump prioritizing returning America to being energy secure as part of his administration’s “Make America Great Again” agenda. Yet, being built on a foundation of diminishing fossil carbon fuel resources, for MAGA to persist, America must become permanently energy secure using only sustainable energy. For this to happen, the starting point is to formalize a presidential policy firmly establishing how and by when America will undertake an orderly transition to practicable sustainable energy.
America’s remaining technically recoverable oil and natural gas resources
How much oil and natural gas remains in America’s “national gas tank”
The following maps illustrate where coal, oil, and natural gas can be found in the contiguous US. These fossil carbon fuel deposits were created hundreds of millions of years ago when the climate favored robust plant growth. By good fortune, America was established on a continent rich in these fuels that at the time of its founding were inconsequential for an agrarian economy but were vital for America’s transition, then unforeseen, over the next two centuries into an industrial powerhouse and global Great Power.
 Figure 1: The upper map shows the locations of coal resources in the US. The different colors represent different qualities of coal in terms of pure carbon content. Generally, this indicates different, often overlapping, deeply buried geological formations. The lower map shows where oil and gas wells have been drilled in and around the US. Many of these wells were exploration wells. |
The US Geological Survey (USGS) was established in 1879 to identify and locate natural resources, such as fossil carbon fuels, to enable the federal government to understand where and to what extent economically vital natural resources could be used. Periodically, the USGS publishes its estimate of the extent of the remaining in situ resources that are deemed “technically recoverable.” This means the amount that can be brought to market, regardless of cost, using available technological means and within permitted recovery parameters (e.g., legal restrictions.) For federal energy security planning purposes, this USGS estimate is the best available.
As of January 1, 2020, the USGS estimated that the US had nearly 896 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) of “technically recoverable” crude oil and natural gas. The estimated values are shown in the following table.
 Figure 2: Table showing the remaining US technically recoverable crude oil and dry natural gas resources as of January 1, 2020. |
The total amounts for oil and natural gas are the sum of two values. The first is the “proved reserves” in clearly identified oil and gas fields with solid estimates of how much oil and gas can be recovered. These values come from the oil companies controlling the producing fields where they have used test wells, as well as producing wells, to estimate how much oil and natural gas will likely be recovered with high confidence—hence the name “proved”. These estimates are used to establish a valuation of the resources under their control and negotiate future delivery contracts.
| Essentially, America’s gas tank would be empty around the year 2100! |
As the name implies, the “unproved resources” are simply the best guesses by the USGS of how much additional oil and natural gas would be expected to be produced nationally, beyond the proved resources, based on geological similarity and proximity to proven fields. Of the 896 billion BOE total, 85% is unproved resources. Thus, while there is high confidence in 15% of the total, the majority of what underpins America’s current “on paper” energy security is just a USGS best guess.
The timeline for America’s needed transition to sustainable energy
As shown in the above figure, the US consumed 12 billion BOE of oil and natural gas in 2019. These two fuels supply about 70 percent of the total energy Americans now use. Thus, continued robust oil and natural gas, at affordable prices, is clearly vital to America’s energy security.
America’s economy was quite robust in 2019, prior to the start of the economic disruption beginning in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the further economic sluggishness that persisted since 2020 until very recently, the combined 12 billion BOE is a good planning estimate for how much oil and natural gas America’s economy needs annually, as a minimum, to remain prosperous.
Imagine that the entirety of the nearly 900 billion BOE of US oil and natural gas resources has been located and identified as proved reserves. This is what remains in the “national gas tank,” so to speak, to keep America energy secure and prosperous. At the annual drawdown rate of 12 billion BOE, the nearly 900 billion BOE would be exhausted in only about 75 years. Essentially, America’s gas tank would be empty around the year 2100!
While this is a crude way of estimating how long US domestic oil and natural gas resources will last—given that 85% of the total has yet to be proven—it is the best “formal” federal estimate available to establish a planning timeline for America’s unavoidable transition to sustainable energy. Therefore, around the end of this century, and likely earlier with substantial net exports of American oil and natural gas or increased energy demand from AI and/or population growth, the general use of fossil oil and natural gas will end in America. Since most children alive today—the inheritors of our energy security planning wisdom—will live to see that happen, we have a clear moral obligation to make this transition happen successfully.
Finally, it is important to recognize that the need to begin an orderly transition to sustainable energy is far sooner than 2100. In the decades ahead—no one now knows exactly when—the domestic production of oil and natural gas will peak and begin to decline below domestic needs just as first happened in the 1970s. Without new sustainable replacement energy sources coming online by that time, America will again become energy insecure and need to import oil and natural gas. To avoid a return to the dangers of energy insecurity, America urgently needs a formal sustainable energy transition policy.
Astroelectricity is America’s only practicable primary future source of sustainable energy
Narrowing America’s options to one—astroelectricity
My preceding article summarized the results of my recently released “Assessment of US sustainable energy needs and transition options”. In that assessment, I began by narrowing the potentially scalable transition options to four: wind power, ground solar power, nuclear fission power, and space solar power (SSP)-supplied astroelectricity.
 Figure 3: Three of the four scalable options for supplying America with sustainable energy are not practicable options for America to pursue. |
As discussed in my previous article, no combination of wind power and/or ground solar power provides a practicable solution. Wind power alone or in combination with ground solar power would require coast-to-coast wind farms while ground solar power alone or in combination with wind power would require a massive takeover of agricultural land to build the solar farms. Further, their unpredictable intermittency also prevents these options from being practicable solutions, “able to be put in practice successfully.”
| Until there is a demonstrated breakthrough in a new form of clean terrestrial energy generation, this leaves astroelectricity as America’s only practicable path to become and remain permanently energy secure. |
The nuclear fission power solution—once again the favored choice of the US Department of Energy—is also an unwise solution as a general energy option to replace fossil carbon fuels. This is due to issues that include the need for massive fissile fuel breeding; real concerns about enabling nuclear weapon proliferation; limited plant siting locations due to natural hazards (e.g., earthquakes, floods); very real threats of terrorist, electromagnetic pulse (EMP), and hacking attacks; the lack of approved permanent nuclear waste storage; and, the impracticability of handling a steadily increasing number of decommissioned, highly-radioactive reactors.
 Figure 4: Baseline five-gigawatt (GW) space solar power concept showing the SSP platform in geostationary Earth orbit transmitting power via radio waves to the ground astroelectric plant containing the receiving antennas (rectenna) that convert the transmitted power into useful baseload electrical power. |
Until there is a demonstrated breakthrough in a new form of clean terrestrial energy generation (e.g., practicable nuclear fusion power), this leaves developing SSP-supplied astroelectricity as America’s only practicable path to become and remain permanently energy secure. Thus, a presidential National Astroelectricity Energy Security Transition Policy is needed now.
The scale of astroelectricity needed to remain energy secure
 Figure 5: Wind and ground solar photovoltaic farms. (Commercial image, used as permitted.) |
A key part of my assessment was estimating the scale of what it will take for America to “go clean.” While needing to know this is obviously required to map out an orderly transition, rarely, if ever, has the magnitude of needed new sustainable energy generation capacity been mentioned in public. Instead, political posturing and usually inaccurate reporting have profoundly misled the American public to believe that a random smattering of wind and ground solar farms will make America’s transition to clean energy practicable and quick.
 Figure 6: History of US energy use from 1850 to 2023 with projection to 2100 incorporating an orderly transition to primarily astroelectricity. |
The chart above shows America’s historical use of energy, by source, as a percentage of the total energy used as well as a future involving an orderly transition to using only non-fossil carbon fuels by 2100. For this sustainable energy transition planning discussion, the initial phase-in of the primary electrical power supplied by the astroelectric plants notionally begins in 2045, presumably around when domestic oil and natural gas production would peak. From 2045 onward, an increasing supply of clean primary electrical power from the astroelectric plants would make up for reductions in oil and natural gas supplies. (Of course, hydroelectricity, geothermal electricity, and some biomass would likely still be used. However, because these are limited in scalable generation capacity compared to the total need, they are ignored in this top-level discussion.)
The table below shows what I estimate to be the total primary continuous electrical power that America would have needed to have already transitioned entirely in 2019 to sustainable energy. America would have needed 5,424 gigawatts of continuous (GWc) baseload electrical power. Putting the magnitude of America’s needed new clean energy infrastructure into perspective, it is equal to the generating capacity of 2,712 two-gigawatt Hoover Dams operating continuously. (For comparison, America now has around 80 GWc of nuclear fission power and less than 30 GWc of hydroelectric power.)
 Figure 7: Amount of equivalent continuous electrical power (GWc) and the equivalent number of Hoover Dams operating continuously that America would have needed in 2019 to have already transitioned to sustainable energy. |
I assume that SSP platforms will supply 80% of the needed 5,424 GWc. This significantly minimizes the land area within the contiguous US that must be used. However, this will require that around 900 five-gigawatt SSP platforms be built in geostationary Earth orbit by 2100. From 2045 to 2100, an average of around 16 of the SSP platforms must become operational each year for America to remain energy secure. Given the immensity of this undertaking, certainly this is an energy security crisis warranting presidential action beginning with a well-developed National Astroelectricity Energy Security Transition Policy,
 Figure 8: Comparison of the total land area needed for using only ground solar farms and using just the astroelectric plants to meet the total sustainable energy need of 5,424 GWc of primary electrical power. |
Summarizing my concerns in a message to the president
Prior to the publication of my previous article, I sent the following to President Trump with copies to Vice President Vance and the Secretary of Energy, the Honorable Chris Wright:
Dear Mr. President,
As a Professional Engineer (PE) with a deep commitment to America’s energy security, I urge your administration to develop and implement a National Astroelectricity Energy Security Transition Policy that will keep America permanently energy secure and energy independent once America’s use of fossil carbon fuels ends.
Your January 20, 2025, Executive Order, “Declaring a National Energy Emergency”, was a needed first step to restore America’s energy security by increasing the domestic supply of energy. However, the underlying threat to America’s energy security remains: the fact that 80 percent of the energy we use still comes from non-sustainable fossil carbon fuels with oil and natural gas accounting for about 70 percent of the total we use. According to January 1, 2020, Government estimates, the US only has about a 75-year technically recoverable supply of these two fuels at the 2019 consumption rate. Hence, without a successful transition to sustainable energy—for which no plan now exists!—America will inevitably, once again, become dangerously energy insecure. It is vital that the Federal Government decisively act to prevent this from happening.
Since 2008, I have extensively studied America’s energy needs and the sustainable energy options America could use to replace fossil carbon fuels with clean electricity and clean carbon fuels. To permanently become sustainable energy secure, while keeping America economically prosperous and at peace, the US would need a new primary sustainable electrical energy supply equivalent to roughly 2,500 Hoover Dams operating continuously.
At this scale needed to replace fossil fuels, my research shows that NO terrestrial sustainable energy sources (including wind power, ground solar power, and nuclear fission power) are practicable replacements. This leaves only space solar power (SSP)-supplied astroelectricity as the primary means for America to become permanently energy secure.
To supply astroelectricity, the US needs nearly 900 Manhattan Island-size solar energy collection platforms in Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO). Each of these will transmit 5 gigawatts (GW) of collected solar power via radio waves to its ground astroelectric plant. This astroelectricity will then be used by local utilities to dispatch power to their customers and used to synthesize clean carbon fuels (e.g., gasoline and synthetic methane) and industrial feedstocks (e.g., plastics) from captured CO2 and clean hydrogen to fully replace fossil carbon fuels. With this approach, the transition to sustainable energy will be seamless and orderly. Also, these clean carbon fuels will NOT add any net CO2 to the atmosphere.
It is imperative that the initial GEO SSP systems and ground astroelectric plants be constructed and operating before fracked oil and natural gas production peaks in the coming decades. Achieving this will require establishing a substantial new American human spacefaring enterprise stretching throughout the central solar system to construct and operate those systems. For this transition to be successful, the development of SSP must be prioritized as a national energy security imperative, serving as the cornerstone of a now needed National Astroelectricity Energy Security Transition Policy.
My proposed presidential executive order
To build the needed astroelectricity-based clean energy infrastructure and be ready to begin successful initial operations when domestic supplies of oil and natural gas begin to decline, decisive presidential action is needed now. America needs a wartime-equivalent spacefaring industrialization plan to create the substantial American commercial human spacefaring industrial enterprise that will build and operate the nearly 900 SSP systems needed. In parallel, America needs a terrestrial sustainable energy development plan that will build the equally substantial terrestrial sustainable energy infrastructure to convert the transmitted astroelectricity into robust supplies of clean dispatchable electricity, fuels, and industrial feedstocks keeping America’s economy “well fed” and Americans prosperous and energy secure throughout the transition and beyond.
Preceding these plans is the need for a presidential National Astroelectricity Energy Security Transition Policy identifying the specific objectives to be accomplished; delegating these to the implementing federal government departments, agencies, and non-governmental organizations; and, communicating these efforts to Congress as proposed legislative changes and authorized expenditures. Triggering the creation of this policy would be a detailed presidential executive order, such as the one I propose in the following:
EXECUTIVE ORDER DECLARING A NATIONAL SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SECURITY EMERGENCY AND DIRECTING THE CREATION OF A NATIONAL ASTROELECTRICITY ENERGY SECURITY TRANSITION POLICY TO INITIATE AND GUIDE AMERICA’S TRANSITION TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose and Findings.
A. The energy security of the United States is critically threatened by an inadequate long-term sustainable energy supply. Despite the current abundance of domestic oil and natural gas, America's long-term energy security is uncertain because current attempts to replace fossil carbon fuels with sustainable energy are failing. Fossil carbon fuels are non-renewable, and it is only a matter of time before domestic supplies of oil and natural gas—vital to America’s economy—begin to become scarce, risking a return to America’s energy security-driven geopolitical turmoil that beleaguered America for much of the last half-century.
B. America must immediately begin to plan an orderly transition to practicable sources of abundant, all-year reliable sustainable energy. The complexity of America's energy use requires a substantially new sustainable energy infrastructure that supplies baseload and dispatchable electrical power, sustainable carbon fuels, and sustainable carbon-based industrial feedstocks. To prevent economic disruption and foster public acceptance, this transition must be seamless and non-burdensome to the end users of energy and energy-related products.
C. Current scalable terrestrial sustainable energy options are insufficient to enable America to permanently become energy secure with abundant sustainable energy. To replace fossil carbon fuels, the United States needs over 5,400 gigawatts (GW) of baseload primary electrical power generation capacity to supply needed dispatchable electrical power and synthesize sustainable fuels and industrial feedstocks. For perspective, this is equivalent to over 2,700 2-GW Hoover Dams operating continuously. The scope of the needed new American sustainable energy infrastructure is the first element justifying designating this as a national emergency.
D. Terrestrial intermittent sources, such as wind and ground solar power, are impracticable at the scale required. A coast-to-coast forest of immense wind turbines would still be insufficient to meet US energy needs. Ground solar photovoltaic farms alone would require dedicating over one million square kilometers (about 14% of the contiguous US) to solar farms. Further, neither can supply the baseload primary power needed throughout the year for a reliably functioning national energy infrastructure.
E. Nuclear fission power faces substantial scale-up hurdles. A substantial expansion sufficient to replace fossil carbon fuels raises scale-up concerns regarding fissile fuel breeding, waste disposal, and the necessity to build and decommission thousands of reactors. While the limited use of nuclear fission power could be continued as part of assuring energy redundancy during emergencies, its use shall be consistent with demonstrated nuclear power plant safety assurances, local environmental protection, protections against nuclear weapon proliferation, protections from natural and other security threats to the nuclear plants and American public, Congressional approval of permanent acceptable nuclear waste disposal capabilities and nuclear plant decommissioning regulations, and adequate sources of fissile fuels not enabling nuclear weapon proliferation.
F. The development of practicable commercial nuclear fusion power generation will continue with a goal of achieving a baseload electrical power generation capability to replace existing nuclear fission power plants and augment astroelectric plants. However, considerations noted earlier regarding safety, threats, nuclear weapon proliferation, waste disposal, et cetera, shall be fully addressed in these development efforts for nuclear fusion power to become a true sustainable energy source.
G. Research into nuclear fission power and nuclear fusion power for off-world use, including advanced space propulsion, will continue.
H. Space Solar Power (SSP)-supplied astroelectricity will be presumed to become America’s primary source of baseload power feeding America’s clean energy infrastructure. Only SSP-supplied astroelectricity now provides America with an orderly path to transition this century to the abundant sustainable energy needed to replace fossil carbon fuels. Extensive studies undertaken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the US Department of Energy, and industry in the late 1970s and early 1980s found that SSP is technologically feasible. On this basis, with good confidence and exploiting nearly a half-century of further aerospace technological advances, the United States can initiate the development of SSP-related extraterrestrial and terrestrial capabilities leading to the construction of prototype SSP systems as the first step to the operational deployment of SSP.
I. Despite now having immense remaining in situ technically recoverable fossil carbon fuels, for planning purposes, a complete transition from these vital but non-sustainable energy sources to primarily astroelectricity will be assumed to be needed by 2100.
J. To prevent America again becoming energy insecure, the initial supply of sustainable electrical power from the astroelectric plants must be available no later than when domestic production of oil and natural gas begins to decline in the coming decades. The clear national energy security need to avoid becoming energy insecure again is a second element justifying undertaking this transition as a national emergency.
K. To pursue the development of SSP, America must quickly and fully transition from the current era of limited human space exploration to that of a robust commercial human spacefaring nation operating routinely and safely throughout the central solar system. It is anticipated that thousands of Americans will be working off-world in the coming decades to bring SSP online. Of course, human space exploration (e.g., exploring Mars), led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), will continue, but this shall be an adjunct to the priority of commercializing America’s human spacefaring enterprise to develop SSP.
Section 2. Definitions and guidance.
A. The term “space solar power” (SSP) means sunlight converted into useful electrical power in space and transmitted via electromagnetic (EM) radiation (radio waves or lasers) to ground receiving stations or to other locations in space for use as a power source.
B. The term “SSP platform” means orbiting systems used to convert sunlight into useful electrical power and transmit this power to the ground receiving stations or to other locations in space for use as a power source.
C. The term “astroelectricity” is the name of the electrical power supplied by the SSP-transmitted EM radiation after having been converted into alternating or direct current electrical power.
D. The term ‘‘sustainable (clean) energy infrastructure’’ means the fully integrated system required to replace fossil carbon fuels with sustainable (clean) electrical power, fuels, and industrial feedstocks.
E. The term ‘‘astroelectric plant’’ means a ground receiving station (rectenna farm) used primarily to collect SSP-transmitted EM radiation, convert it into usable astroelectricity, and supply this to the nation’s power grid.
F. The term ‘‘energy supply’’ means the production, transportation, refining, and generation of electricity, fuels, and energy produced industrial feedstocks.
G. The term “spaceworthiness” defines a condition of acceptable operational safety of human space flight systems consistent with and comparable to airworthiness. Spaceworthiness shall be essential for all government and commercial human extraterrestrial transportation systems (e.g., spaceplanes and spaceships) and accommodations (e.g., space stations and space habitats) used by crew, passengers, workers, and guests.
H. The term “spaceworthiness certification” will be an independent means to establish spaceworthiness consistent with and comparable to that undertaken by commercial and military airworthiness certification. Spaceworthiness certification shall be required for all transatmospheric and exoplanetary systems and accommodations used by governmental personnel, commercial operators and crew, and the public, and where the safety of the non-involved public is at a non-remote risk. The imposition of spaceworthiness certification recognizes that for America to successfully become a true human spacefaring nation, the Government’s ethical “duty to care” obligation to ensure the safety of Americans must be met. Military and commercial airworthiness certification protocols have clearly demonstrated that this is the best available means of achieving and maintaining acceptable operational safety and correcting deficiencies that do occur. Logically, the extension and expansion of the airworthiness certification protocols into all aspects of America’s emerging human spacefaring enterprise is warranted. Consequently, federal military and commercial spaceworthiness certification shall replace all other human safety assurance methods and approvals and shall be used for future planning purposes other than those uniquely used only by NASA astronauts.
I. The term “astrologistics” refers to logistics undertaken to transport, deploy, house, sustain, maintain, and provide emergency services to enable Americans to undertake commercial and non-NASA governmental human operations in outer space.
Section 3. Presumptions.
A. For planning purposes, the presumption is that SSP-supplied astroelectricity will provide 80 percent of the total dispatched electrical power and synthetic fuels and industrial feedstocks needed by the US by 2100. The remaining 20 percent by 2100 will come from existing hydroelectric and geothermal-electric sources, biomass energy systems, nuclear fission power plants rebuilt using new modular reactors, and ground solar photovoltaic farms integrated into the rectenna arrays of the astroelectric plants.
B. For planning purposes, 900 5-GW SSP platforms and ground receiving stations (astroelectric plants) within the contiguous US will be needed by 2100.
C. By the year 2100, it will be assumed that existing wind farms, ground solar farms, and nuclear fission power plants not being updated will have been decommissioned due to age.
D. The use of passive solar energy and building roof-top solar power systems will be assumed to be incorporated into new national building codes focused on reducing per person energy use consistent with the objective of a seamless and non-burdensome national transition to sustainable energy.
Section 4. National Spacefaring Council tasking.
A. Under the direction of the Vice President, the National Space Council—hereby redesignated as the National Spacefaring Council—shall prepare a draft National Astroelectricity Energy Security Transition Policy for presidential approval. This policy shall identify and address all aspects of America’s transition to using SSP-supplied astroelectricity as the primary source of sustainable energy.
B. The National Spacefaring Council will coordinate its efforts with the National Security Council to ensure that all requirements related to America’s national security are fully addressed during, and subsequent to, America’s transition to sustainable energy.
C. Following presidential approval, the National Spacefaring Council will coordinate the preparation of proposed legislation authorizing, regulating, and funding efforts of the Federal Government and interstate (interplanetary) commerce required to implement the federal responsibilities and taskings identified by the policy.
Section 5. National Astroelectricity Energy Security Transition Policy development.
A. Due to the importance of energy use throughout America’s economy, the policy will be comprehensive in nature, essentially becoming an “all of America” roadmap for America’s sustainable energy transition.
B. The policy shall specifically incorporate the term “astroelectricity” in its name to retain its focus on utilizing SSP-supplied astroelectricity as the primary means for America to undertake an orderly transition to practicable sustainable energy.
C. The policy will be divided into an extraterrestrial segment, a terrestrial segment, a foreign affairs segment, and an interface segment. (1) The extraterrestrial segment shall address all national needs—governmental and commercial—related to human and robotic spacefaring operations enabling and supporting the off-planet commercial SSP industry. The extraterrestrial segment shall plan the formation of the American commercial and governmental spacefaring operations required to research, develop, resource explore, extract needed extraterrestrial resources, manufacture, construct, deploy, operate, maintain, defend, and protect America’s SSP energy supply. Annexes to the extraterrestrial segment shall:
(a) Identify the responsibilities of the Department of War to protect and defend its own and other governmental and commercial human spacefaring operations throughout the central solar system.
(b) Identify the responsibilities of the Department of Homeland Security for the operation of a “Space Guard” to undertake law enforcement and other Coast Guard-like responsibilities off-planet consistent with protecting America’s vital interests.
(c) Identify the responsibilities of the Departments of Commerce, Transportation, and War to establish a national astrologistical infrastructure to enable routine, robust, and operationally safe governmental and commercial human spacefaring operations throughout the central solar system.
(d) Include a coordinated strategy by the Departments of Transportation and War to establish military and commercial spaceworthiness certification.
(2) The terrestrial segment shall address all national needs—governmental and commercial—for developing, deploying, and operating the ground portion of the new sustainable energy infrastructure. This will include the astroelectric plants to receive and deliver the imported astroelectricity, the electrical power transmission infrastructure to deliver clean electrical power, and the synthetic fuels and industrial feedstock plants that will use this clean electrical power to supply carbon dioxide (CO2)-neutral carbon fuels and industrial feedstocks. Annexes to the terrestrial segment shall:
(a) Identify specific responsibilities of federal departments and agencies for planning and implementing the terrestrial segment.
(b) Include an idealized optimistic representation/visualization of what a 22nd century America, powered completely by sustainable energy, could look like to familiarize Americans with the full benefits of “going clean”.
(c) Include an economic analysis assessing the cost-effectiveness of reducing America’s current per person energy use by one-half by rebuilding most of America using new technology-enabled 22nd century energy efficiency technologies. The analysis should assess the benefits to be realized by replacing most non-historic 19th and 20th century housing, businesses, schools, and transportation infrastructure to improve America’s overall standard of living while also maintaining an individual’s lifestyle choices (e.g., urban, suburban, and rural).
(3) The foreign affairs segment shall address extending the clean energy security benefits of using SSP to America’s allies and other non-adversarial nations who wish to join with America in transitioning to SSP-supplied astroelectricity. An important facet of this effort is to enable the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals requiring clean and plentiful energy to be achieved worldwide, thereby fostering global peace, prosperity, and joint security.
(4) The interface segment shall identify, coordinate, and track the three separate segments to ensure a wholly coordinated/integrated effort. A product of the interface segment shall be a national report card tracking progress and reporting challenges remaining for America to “go clean” by the year 2100. An annex to the interface segment shall identify a roadmap for maximizing the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) to enable and minimize the cost of America transitioning to sustainable energy.
Conclusion
A century ago, the farsighted pioneering Russian space scientist and philosopher, Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, wrote “Sixteen Stages of Space Exploration”. He wrote: “Mankind will not forever remain on Earth but, in the pursuit of light and space, will first timidly emerge from the bounds of the atmosphere and then advance until he has conquered the whole of circumsolar space.”
| It is imperative that the initial GEO SSP systems and ground astroelectric plants be constructed and operating before fracked oil and natural gas production peaks in the coming decades. |
We have now progressed through the first ten stages. Stage 11 is “Using sunlight to power human habitats, propel spacecraft, grow food, and meet humanity’s growing need for sustainable energy” per the modernized version of his writing. With the “Age of Fossil Fuels” ending, the time to undertake Stage 11 has arrived.
Returning America to being energy secure has proven to be a critical step in President Trump’s goal to “Make America Great Again” while also advancing world peace. Developing astroelectricity to make America permanently energy secure will “seal the deal” Trump made with the American people to ensure that America remains free, prosperous, and at peace.
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