While not from NASA, I think this is interesting.   
       
   Japan space scientists make wireless energy breakthrough   
       
   AFP   
       
   March 12, 2015 6:19 AM   
       
   Electricity gained from solar panels in space could one day be beamed to earth   
       
   Tokyo (AFP) - Japanese scientists have succeeded in transmitting energy   
   wirelessly, in a key step that could one day make solar power generation in   
   space a possibility, an official said Thursday.   
       
   Researchers used microwaves to deliver 1.8 kilowatts of power -- enough to run   
   an electric kettle -- through the air with pinpoint accuracy to a receiver 55   
   metres (170 feet) away.   
       
   While the distance was not huge, the technology could pave the way for mankind   
   to eventually tap the vast amount of solar energy available in space and use   
   it here on Earth, a spokesman for The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency   
   (JAXA) said.   
       
   "This was the first time anyone has managed to send a high output of nearly   
   two kilowatts of electric power via microwaves to a small target, using a   
   delicate directivity control device," he said.   
       
   JAXA has been working on devising Space Solar Power Systems for years, the   
   spokesman said.   
       
   Solar power generation in space has many advantages over its Earth-based   
   cousin, notably the permanent availability of energy, regardless of weather or   
   time of day.   
       
   While man-made satellites, such as the International Space Station, have long   
   since been able to use the solar energy that washes over them from the sun,   
   getting that power down to Earth where people can use it has been the thing of   
   science fiction.   
       
   But the Japanese research offers the possibility that humans will one day be   
   able to farm an inexhaustible source of energy in space.   
       
   The idea, said the JAXA spokesman, would be for microwave-transmitting solar   
   satellites -- which would have sunlight-gathering panels and antennae -- to be   
   set up about 36,000 kilometres (22,300 miles) from the earth.   
       
   "But it could take decades before we see practical application of the   
   technology -- maybe in the 2040s or later," he said.   
       
   "There are a number of challenges to overcome, such as how to send huge   
   structures into space, how to construct them and how to maintain them."   
       
   The idea of space-based solar power generation emerged among US researchers in   
   the 1960s and Japan's SSPS programme, chiefly financed by the industry   
   ministry, started in 2009, he said.   
       
   Resource-poor Japan has to import huge amounts of fossil fuel. It has become   
   substantially more dependent on these imports as its nuclear power industry   
   shut down in the aftermath of the disaster at Fukushima in 2011.   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
   --- D'Bridge 3.99   
    * Origin: NCS BBS - Houma, LoUiSiAna (1:3828/7)