Photo: "Drilling Up" -- Some Look to Space for Energy

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NASA has been looking into space-based solar power generation since the 1960s, the Associated Press reports.

The space agency released this SunTower image in 1999, estimating back then that two small panels on a tall tower like this could power a communications satellite, and four panels might fuel a robotic interplanetary probe.

The Pentagon recently released a 75-page report on space power, and the president of the tiny Pacific country of Palau may end up handing over an uninhabited island to the cause.

Image courtesy NASA

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