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1980 SOLAR ONE Solar Project Site Dedication Lucite Paperweight Mojave Desert CA

Regular price $175.00

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From the southern California estate sale of Gerry C. Coleman (Gerald Claiborne Coleman), a graduate of LSU in aeronautical engineering, he worked for Douglas, McDonnell-Douglas and Boeing in several capacities. He was one of the engineers who developed the engines that took the US to the moon and back. He was especially proud of the work his group did to design, build and fly a Single-Stage-To-Orbit X-plane rocket known as the "Delta Clipper" which took off and landed from it's tail.

A cool see-through lucite paperweight for the SOLAR ONE site dedication in October 1980, the Mojave Desert, Daggett, California. It's so cool, even the solar panels are reflective silver! 4 inches tall. Used, scratches. 

The SOLAR Project consists of the Solar One, Solar Two and Solar Tres solar thermal power plants based in the Mojave Desert, United States and Andalucía, Spain. The US Department of Energy (DOE) and a consortium of US utilities built this country's first two large-scale, demonstration solar power towers in the desert near Barstow, California. The Solar One project produced 10 MW of electricity using 1,818 heliostats of 40 m² (430 ft²) reflective surface area each, with a total area of 72,650 m² (782,000 ft²). Solar One was completed in 1981 and was operational from 1982 to 1986. Later redesigned and renamed Solar Two, it could be seen from Interstate 40 where it covered a 51 hectare (126 acre) site, not including the administration building or rail yard facilities shared with a neighboring plant. Solar One/Two and other nearby solar projects are plainly visible via satellite imaging software at 34°52′18″N 116°50′03″W. During times of high winds, blowing dust is sometimes illuminated by the reflected sunbeams to create an unusual atmospheric phenomenon in the vicinity of the power tower. These beams of light were depicted in several scenes, and a painting, in the 1987 movie Bagdad Cafe, which was filmed nearby.

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