‘Going green’ with SPACES could save lives

12/16/10

By Sgt. Heather Golden, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms
December 17, 2010

MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. — A new portable, solar energy converter designed to tactically charge batteries and run communications equipment could soon help save lives in combat zones.

The Solar Portable Alternative Communications Energy System consists of several foldable solar panels, a multitude of output and input cables and adapters, and a small box no bigger than the average game console.

In theory, by using the SPACES, troops deployed to remote areas like Afghanistan would be able to power everything from AN/PRC-119F SINCGARS radios and combat operations centers to humvees. This would greatly reduce the need for resupply missions for generator fuel and expose fewer Marines to dangerous enemy attacks, said Maj. Carlos Barela, the director of the Infantry Officer Course out of Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.

“It lessens the likelihood of Marines being killed for a resupply that, in the future, may not have had to go,” said the Albuquerque, N.M., native.

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