Artist’s concept of space-based solar power beaming to military and remote installations. Credit: U.S. Naval Research Laboratory An experiment launched May 17 onboard the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B ...

When the US Air Force's X-37B autonomous spaceplane launched into orbit for the sixth time this week, it was carrying an experiment to explore the potential for beaming solar energy from space to ...

Neutrinos—ghostly particles that rarely interact with normal matter—are the sun's secret messengers. These particles are born deep within the sun, a byproduct of the nuclear fusion process which ...

Project managers James Winter (Air Force Research Laboratory) and Tara Theret (Northrop Grumman) hold models of the photovoltaic and the radio frequency sides of the sandwich tile that converts solar ...

The idea of solar energy being transmitted from space is not a new one. In 1968, a NASA engineer named Peter Glaser produced the first concept design for a solar-powered satellite. But only now, 55 ...

On Saturday, the US Air Force is expected to launch its secret space plane, X-37B, for a long-duration mission in low Earth orbit. The robotic orbiter looks like a smaller version of the space shuttle ...

Space-based solar power won't be just a sci-fi dream forever, if things go according to the U.S. Air Force's plans. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is developing a project called SSPIDR ...