Europe edges closer to mobile phones on planes

Presented by 24hoursnews :The likelihood of mobile-phone usage being allowed on flights within Europe increased on Thursday after telecommunications regulator Ofcom issued a consultation on the matter.

The issue has been brewing for many years but has been hampered until now by concerns over safety and the commercial viability of business models. The regulator's new proposals are the result of negotiations within the European Union, and will therefore cover all European airspace--although what will happen with flights leaving that airspace remains to be seen.

Ofcom is proposing a situation where a mobile base station would be allowed to be installed on a plane. Calls would be routed by satellite and would be treated as if the user were roaming. The revenue would come from a deal between the airline and an onboard operator. There are two operators currently able to offer such a service: OnAir and Aeromobile.

According to an Ofcom representative, the drive toward the new proposals has come from OnAir (a joint venture with Airbus and the airline industry body SITA) and Aeromobile (a joint venture between the Norwegian telco Telenor and the transport communications company ARINC), rather than the airlines themselves. However, many airlines--including Ryanair, BMI and Air France--have previously expressed interest.

As is currently the case, all mobile telephony equipment would need to be switched off during landing and takeoff. It would then be allowed to be on at a minimum height of 9,842 feet (3,000 meters). The first phase of the service's introduction would enable GSM voice and GPRS data, but it may extend to 3G and beyond in the future.

Ofcom's representative conceded that, despite pan-European agreement and similar moves being undertaken in some other countries, including Australia, the service may hit problems when flying over countries without similar regulations.

"Potentially, once the system is up and running, when you fly into other airspace outside the EU you would have to comply with the individual countries' jurisdiction and their regulations," Ofcom's spokesperson said. "If they haven't got the system in place it might be turned off."

The U.S. Federal Aviation Authority ruled earlier this month that it would not allow mobile calls on planes for the foreseeable future. And the Daily Telegraph has launched a campaign against in-flight mobile use.

Technorati : mobile phones on planes

All the Energy We Could Ever Need? Space-Based Solar Power Looking Better

Published by the Pentagon's National Security Space Office, the report says the US should demonstrate the technology by building a pilot "space-based solar power" station, big enough to continuously beam up to 10 megawatts of power to the ground, in the next decade.

The good news? Beaming all the solar energy we could ever need down to Earth from space appears more feasible than ever before. The bad news? It's going to take a lot of money and political will to get there.

While the idea of sending giant solar panels into orbit around the Earth is nothing new - the idea has been kicked around with varying degrees of seriousness since the '60s and 70s - changing times have made the concept a lot more feasible today, according to a study released Oct. 10 by the National Security Space Office (NSSO). Fossil fuels are a lot more expensive, and getting harder to access, than they were in past decades. And technology advances are making possible today projects that were all but inconceivable in years past.

"The magnitude of the looming energy and environmental problems is significant enough to warrant consideration of all options, to include revisiting a concept called Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) first invented in the United States almost 40 years ago," the report's executive summary states.

Oil prices have jumped from $15/barrel to now $80/barrel in less than a decade. In addition to the emergence of global concerns over climate change, American and allied energy source security is now under threat from actors that seek to destabilize or control global energy markets as well as increased energy demand competition by emerging global economies.

By collecting solar energy before it passes through the Earth's atmosphere, losing much of its power, a space-based solar power could provide the planet with all the energy it needs and then some, the NSSO report said. The output of a single one-kilometer-wide band of solar panels at geosynchronous orbit would equal the energy in all the world's remaining recoverable oil: an esimated 1.28 trillion barrels.

Because it didn't have the time or funds to study the feasibility of space-based solar power the traditional way, the NSSO's Advanced Concepts Office (known as "Dreamworks") developed its report through a unique strategy: an open-source, Internet-based forum inviting worldwide experts in the field to collaborate online. More than 170 contributors joined into the discussion, with the mission to answer one question:

Can the United States and partners enable the development and deployment of a space-based solar power system within the first half of the 21st Century such that if constructed could provide affordable, clean, safe, reliable, sustainable, and expandable energy for its consumers?

Their answer, delivered in the form of the Oct. 10 report: it's possible, but a lot remains to be done.

The study group ended up making four major recommendations. First, it said, the U.S. government should move to resolve the remaining unknowns regarding space-based solar power and act effectively to allow for the technology's development. Second, the government should also reduce as much as possible the technical risks faced by businesses working on the technology. Third, the government should set up the environment - policy, regulatory and legal - needed to develop space-based solar power. And, fourth, the U.S. should commit to becoming an early demonstrator, adopter and customer of space-based solar power and set up incentives for the technology's development.

"Considering the development timescales that are involved, and the exponential growth of population and resource pressures within that same strategic period, it is imperative that this work for 'drilling up' vs. drilling down for energy security begins immediately," the NSSO report stated.

If it could be done, space-based solar power would have incredible potential, the NSSO said: It could solve our energy problems, deliver "energy on demand" for troops in the field, provide a fast and sustainable source of energy during humanitarian disasters, and reduce the risk of future conflict over dwindling or risky energy supplies.

Considering that, over the past 30 years, both NASA and the Department of Energy have invested a meager $80 million in space-based solar power research (compared to $21 billion over the last half-century for nuclear fusion - which still remains out of reach as a feasible power source), maybe it's time to directing our research energies - and dollars - upward

Technorati : more solar energy