A Star is Born

The Space Option Star (S⊕S) is a Space Solar Power (SSP) demonstrator and an orbital artwork which represents a logical early step in any Astrostrom development program.

The S⊕S mission has a dual purpose: first, its technical mission represents an in-situ demonstration of energy from space technologies. Electricity generated by the S⊕S’s solar arrays will flow to co-located microwave transmitters to beam power toward a companion spacecraft, which will then use this power to transmit video and other interactive communications from orbit to public locations around the world such as art and/or science museums and schools.

Secondly, its communication mission is to raise public awareness about the potential of the Space Energy Option to address the Energy Dilemma and the Climate Emergency facing the world population. In addition to S⊕S being an acronym for the Space Option Star, the acronym is being used to send the message “save our spaceship” with the goal to impact the policy discourse related to energy use on Earth. As such, the S⊕S could become a symbolic "Star of Hope" signifying how clean energy from space is a possible solution to many of the problems facing humanity.

As it is an artwork, the Space Option Star will have a more flexible envelope for development than a pure engineering project and will also directly involve the public in a variety of ways. In a recent (2020) European Space Agency (ESA) call for new space missions and concepts, the Space Option Star was one of several ideas selected from the 201 submissions and included in a ‘Space Resources and Infrastructure’ group for further development as a potential future ESA mission. The proposed S⊕S is an icosahedron covered with solar panels with a diameter of approximately 100 meters. If realized, the S⊕S would be the largest physical object ever sent into space and visible to a large part of the world's population.

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