The Pentagon’s National Security Space Office has released a six-month study that concludes the US could use space-based solar power as an “inexhaustible supply of clean energy,” reports Brian Berger of Space.com (article via USA Today). The report recommends that the US fund in-depth studies and technology demonstrations to prove the viability of space-based solar power. The power could also supply forward bases, eliminating the need to convoy in fossil fuels. However, a NSSO spokesman said he thought it unlikely that the Pentagon would fund the technology; he believes it more rightly belongs with NASA or the Department of Energy.
Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost—a trailblazer and one of the first 10 women to reach a four-star rank across the U.S. military—retired and passed control of U.S. Transportation Command to Air Force Gen. Randall Reed on Oct. 4, finishing an eventful tenure at TRANSCOM.