Power Beaming
Collecting solar energy in space and beaming the power down to Earth using microwave or laser technology
Advantages
- Pure Solar Power - Collecting solar energy in space yields more power because of no atmospheric interference and round-the-clock solar availability
- Economies of Scale - While the initial investment of SBSP would be high, the costs will be dramatically reduced in the long run as more power beaming factories emerge. Also, once constructed, remains constructed
- Remote Power on Air - SBSP farms can also beam power to UAVs, other satellites, and aircraft as needed
Space farms are not immune to space
Challenges
- Costly Start - Initial investments are quite high. Also, SBSP isn’t fully justified when extremely cheap ground-based renewables exist such as wind etc.
- Satellite Sabotage - Space Farms can be hacked to beam malicious information instead of power. Moreover, if a lot of power rests on a single farm, then destroying that farm would cut off immense power to huge regions
SWELL - Space Wireless Energy Laser Linkage US Space Force NDL is working on this technology. 100 days of successful on-orbit tests conducted
- Power beamed - 1.5 W
- Beaming distance - 1.45 m
- End-to-end Efficiency - 11%
Project Zhuri by China Academy of Space Technology and Xidian University - 75 m tall tower constructed to test OMEGA - Orb-shape Membrane Energy Gathering Array
EU SOLARIS
Northrop Grumman SSPIDR - Beaming directed RF energy down to rectennas to convert SBSP to electricity
Sources
- https://www.spoc.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3457469/first-in-space-laser-power-beaming-experiment-surpasses-100-days-of-successful
- https://www.airbus.com/en/newsroom/news/2022-09-solar-power-beams-a-step-towards-cleaner-energy
- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-space-based-solar-power-ready-for-its-moment-in-the-sun/
- https://news.northropgrumman.com/news/features/turning-science-fiction-into-science-fact