The US and India will jointly work towards a space program that would establish solar energy harvesting satellites in orbit around the earth as both countries try to wean themselves off an unhealthy reliance on fossil fuels. The project has been named the ‘Kalam-NSS Initiative’. Dr A P J Kalam, ex-president of India, believes that utilising off-world solar power has the potential to reverse America’s half a trillion dollar a year balance of payments deficit and to generate a new generation of American jobs.
“By 2050, even if we use every available energy resource we have: clean and dirty, conventional and alternative — solar, wind, geothermal, nuclear, coal, oil and gas, the world will fall short of the energy we need,” he added while speaking on the subject of space solar power.