Six-time Hugo Award–winning author and editor Ben Bova explores the early life of one of his most intriguing characters -- the hard-driving space entrepreneur Dan Randolph -- in Powersat, a high-tech thriller about the maverick's struggle to create giant satellites that can gather and utilize the sun's energy.

If realized, Randolph's dream to manufacture powersats that gather solar energy and transfer it to generators on Earth would end America's dependence on fossil fuels forever. In the character's own words: "If we could convert even a tenth of one percent of…sunlight into electricity, the world would never have a power shortage. Ever." But standing in his way are numerous powerful opponents: NASA, the FAA, fanatical ecological groups, international oil corporations, and a terrorist organization called The Nine -- whose ultimate mission isn't only to make America dependent on Middle East oil but to destroy the nation altogether.