…let’s combine the two.
Of all the loony space megaengineering projects out there, space solar power stations are my favorite.
The Pentagon is considering studying them as a way of delivering energy to deployed troops (which they might think twice about now that China can shoot satellites down and fill the orbit with blasted bits). Maybe this is the sort of boost the technology needs.
One can hope.
Oddly, I just read Ben Bova’s Powersat (not recommended) and had been thinking of this topic.