Time Warner's "Business 2.0" Magazine Views Space Island's Solar Solution to Energy Alternative
West Covina, California, United States March 16, 2006

American, Space-Based Energy Project That Will End OPEC's Stranglehold Within a Decade

A dramatic but realistic proposal by the Space Island Group (SIG) for space-based solar energy fields has caught the eye of Time Warner's Business 2.0 (B20) magazine. The national publication's March 2006 issue highlights SIG's plan as part of its cover story, "An Entrepreneur's Guide to the Galaxy," which reviews the exploding number of private sector space projects.

With two Space Island Group "Ring" Space Stations nearby, early in the next decade SIG will begin placing huge, mile-wide sheets of solar cells in earth orbit. These NASA-designed structures, called solar power satellites, will convert sunlight into electricity, then use weak, pollution-free, environmentally safe microwave beams to send that energy down to simple antennas anywhere on Earth. The antennas will convert the beams back into electricity and feed it into standard existing power grids at an extremely low cost. The system will operate 24/7 overcoming the drawback of rooftop solar cells and windmills.

SIG will also build large, commercial space stations to house their solar satellite assembly and maintenance crews. Some stations, resembling the one depicted in the 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey," will be leased to a wide range of tenants as factories, hotels and entertainment complexes.

The B20 article quotes a NASA manager as saying that, "Everyone agrees that this plan is feasible, it's one of the most exciting developments I've seen in my career."

SIG is currently pursuing a $200 billion, 20-year energy purchase contract from India and/or China this year, 5% of which will cover all of SIG's development and early launch costs.

SIG's target is to supply half the world's electricity generation and distribution, currently a $2 trillion annual market.