Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are not anything particular new or Earth-shaking, nor are the materials involved.  Thus when K. R. Sridhar -- a former Ph.D researcher for The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Mars exploration efforts -- launched a startup claiming to have radically reinvented the SOFC and created the "server" of the backup energy world, interest was piqued as to exactly what Bloom Energy was doing that was so innovative.