Space Solar Power System | Wikipedia audio article
Space-based. Solar, power, SBS P is the concept, of collecting, solar power in outer space and, distributing, it to earth. Potential. Advantages, of collecting, solar energy, in space include, a higher collection, rate and a longer collection. Period due to the lack of a diffusing atmosphere. And the possibility. Of placing a solar collector in, an orbiting, location, where there is no night a. Considerable. Fraction of incoming solar energy, 55. To 60 percent is lost on its way through the Earth's atmosphere by. The effects, of reflection, and absorption. Space-based. Solar power systems, convert, sunlight to, microwaves, outside, the atmosphere avoiding. These losses, in the downtime due to the Earth's rotation but, at great cost due to the expense of, launching, material, into orbit. SBS. P is considered, a form of sustainable. Or green energy. Renewable, energy and is occasionally, considered, among climate, engineering proposals. It. Is attractive, to those seeking, large-scale, solutions. To anthropogenic, climate change or, fossil fuel depletion such, as Peak Oil. Various. SPSP. Proposals. Have been researched, since the early, 1970s. But none economically. Viable with present-day, space, launch infrastructure. A modest. Gigawatt range microwave. System, comparable. To a large commercial, power plant would require launching, some 80 thousand tons of material, to orbit making, the cost of energy from such a system, vastly, more expensive, than even present-day, renewable. Energy, some. Technologists. Speculate, that this may change in, the distant future if, an offworld, industrial. Base were to be developed that could manufacture solar. Power satellites. Out of asteroids, or lunar material, or if radical, new space launch technologies. Other than rocketry, should become available in the future. Besides. The cost of implementing, such a system, Espie Espie also. Introduces. Several technological, hurdles. Including, the problem, of transmitting. Energy from orbit to the Earth's surface for, use, since. Why is extending. From Earth's surface to an orbiting, satellite and neither practical nor feasible. With current, technology, SV SP designs, generally, include the use of some manner of wireless power transmission. With its concomitant, conversion. In efficiencies, as well as land-use concerns, for the necessary, antenna, stations to, receive the energy at Earth's surface. The. Collecting, satellite, would convert solar energy into electrical. Energy on board powering, a microwave, transmitter. Or laser emitter, and transmit. This energy, to a collector, or microwave, rect in our on Earth's surface. Contrary. To appearances of, SBS P in popular, novels and video games most designs, propose, beam energy densities, that are not harmful if human, beings were to be inadvertently, exposed such. As if a transmitting. Satellites, beam were to wander off course, but. The vast size, of the receiving, antennas, that would be necessary would, still require large, blocks of land nearly end-users, to be procured, and dedicated, to this purpose. The. Service, life of space-based, collectors, in the face of challenges. From long term exposure, to the space environment including. Degradation, from, radiation, and micrometeoroid. Damage could, also become, a concern, for SB Espie Espie. Espie. Is, being actively pursued by Japan, China, and Russia, in. 2008. Japan passed, its basic, space law which established. Space solar powers, a national, goal in Jay AXA, has a roadmap, to commercial, SPSP. In. 2015. The China Academy, for space technology past, showcased. Their roadmap at the international. Space development. Conference. Topic. History. In. 1941. Science. Fiction writer Isaac, Asimov, published, the science, fiction short story, reason. In, which a space station, transmits energy, collected. From the Sun to various, planets, using microwave. Beams. The. SPSP concept, originally, known as satellite. Solar power system, SSPs. Was first described, in November, 1968. In. 1973. Peter Glaser was granted, US patent, number 3 million, 780. 1647. For his method, of transmitting, power over, long distances, eg, from an SPS, to Earth's surface using.
Microwaves, From a very large antenna, up to one square kilometer, on the satellite, to a much larger one now known as a rectina on the ground Glaser then was a vice president, at Arthur D little Inc, NASA. Signed, a contract, with ADL, to lead four other companies, in a broader study in, 1974. They. Found that while the concept, had several, major problems, chiefly, the expense, of putting the required, materials. In orbit and the lack of experience, on projects, of this scale in, space it showed enough promise to, merit further investigation. And research between. 1978. And 1986. The, Congress, authorized, the Department, of Energy DOE and NASA to jointly investigate. The concept, they. Organized, the satellite, power system, concept, development, and evaluation, program the. Study remains, the most extensive. Performed, to date budget. $50,000,000. Several. Reports, were published, investigating. The engineering. Feasibility. Of such an engineering, project. They. Include. Resource. Requirements. Critical, materials, energy, and land. Financial. Management, scenarios. Public. Acceptance. State. And local regulations. Is applied to satellite, power system, microwave, receiving. Antenna facilities. Student. Participation. Potential. Of laser for SPSP. Power transmission. International. Agreements. Centralization. Decentralization. Mapping. Of exclusion, areas, for rec tennis sites. Economic. And demographic issues. Related, to deployment. Some. Questions, and answers. Meteorological. Effects. On laser beam propagation, and direct solar pump lasers. Public. Outreach experiment. Power. Transmission. And reception technical. Summary and assessment. Space. Transportation. Topic. Discontinuation. The. Project, was not continued, with the change in administration's. After the 1980. US federal elections, the. Office of Technology. Assessment concluded. That too, little is currently, known about the technical, economic. And environmental. Aspects, of SPS, to make a sound decision whether to proceed, with its development, and deployment. In. Addition, without further, research, an SPS, demonstration. Or systems, engineering. Verification. Program, would be a high-risk, venture. In. 1997. NASA conducted its, freshlook. Study. To examine the modern state of SPSP. Feasibility. In. Assessing, what, has changed, since. The DOE study NASA, asserted, that the u.s.. National, Space policy now, calls for NASA to make significant. Investments, in technology not. A particular vehicle, to drive the costs of air tow earth to orbit, transportation. Down dramatically. This. Is of course an absolute. Requirement of, space solar power. Conversely. Dr., Pete worden of NASA claimed, that space-based, solar is about five orders of magnitude more, expensive. Than solar power from the Arizona, desert with a major cost being the transportation. Of materials, to orbit, dr.. Worden referred, to possible, solutions, as speculative, and which would not be available for decades, at the earliest on November, 2nd, 2012, China, proposed, space collaboration. With India that mentioned, SB SP maybe space-based. Solar power, initiative, so that both India, and China can, work for long term association. With proper, funding along with other willing, spacefaring. Nations, to bring space solar power to earth, in. February, 2019. Announced. Long-term plans to build power satellites.
Topic. Space, solar power, exploratory. Research and, technology. Program. In. 1999. NASA's. Space solar power exploratory. Research and, Technology program s ERT was, initiated. For the following purposes. Perform. Design studies, of selected, flight demonstration. Concepts. Evaluate. Studies of the general, feasibility. Design, and requirements. Create. Conceptual. Designs, of subsystems, that make use of advanced, SSP, technologies, to benefit, future space or terrestrial applications. Formulate. A preliminary, plan, of action, for the u.s. working, with international, partners to undertake, an aggressive, technology, initiative. Construct. Technology. Development. And demonstration roadmaps. For critical, space solar power SSP. Elements. Se RT went about developing a solar power satellite, SPS, concept, for a future gigawatt, space power system, to provide electrical. Power by, converting, the sun's energy and beaming, it to Earth's surface and provided, a conceptual. Development path, that, would utilize current. Technologies. Se. RT, proposed, an inflatable, photovoltaic, gossamer. Structure, with concentrator. Lenses, or solar heat engines, to convert sunlight into, electricity. The. Program, looked both at systems, in Sun synchronous, orbit, and geosynchronous. Orbit. Some. RBC artis conclusions. The. Increasing. Global energy demand is, likely to continue for many decades resulting. In new power plants, of all sizes being, built. The. Environmental. Impact of those plants, and their impact, on world energy, supplies, and geopolitical. Relationships. Can be problematic. Renewable. Energy is a compelling, approach, both philosophically. And in engineering terms. Many. Renewable energy, sources, are limited, in their ability to affordably. Provide, the base load power required, for global, industrial, development, and prosperity because. Of inherent land, and water requirements. Based. On their concept, definition study. Space, solar power concepts. May be ready to re-enter the discussion. Solar. Power satellites. Should no longer be envisioned, as requiring, unimaginably. Large initial, investments. In fixed infrastructure, before, the emplacement, of productive, power plants, can begin. Space, solar power systems, appear to possess many, significant. Environmental, advantages. When compared, to alternative. Approaches. The. Economic, viability of, space solar power systems, depends, on many factors in, the successful, development of, various new technologies. Not least of which is the availability, of much lower cost access, to space than has been available however, the same can be said of many other advanced, power technologies. Options. Space. Solar power may well emerge as a serious, candidate, among the options for meeting the energy demands.
Of The 21st, century. Space. Solar power satellite, technology. Development. At the Glenn Research Center an, overview. James. II do know fir and Patrick J George NASA Glenn, Research Center, Cleveland. Ohio. Launch. Costs, in the range of $100. To $200. Per kilogram, of payload, from low Earth orbit, to geosynchronous, orbit. And needed if SPS, is to be economically, viable. Topic. Japan, aerospace exploration. Agency. The. May 2014. I Tripoli spectrum, magazine, carried, a lengthy article it's always, sunny in space. By. Dr. Susumu Sasaki, the article, stated it's, been the subject of many previous studies. And the stuff of sci-fi for decades, but, space-based, solar power, could at last become, a reality and, within. 25, years according. To a proposal, from researchers, at the Tokyo, based Japan, aerospace exploration. Agency. Jay AXA. Jay. AXA, announced, on the 12th of March 2015. That they wirelessly, beamed 1.8. Kilowatts, 50 meters to a small receiver by converting, electricity, to microwaves, and then back to electricity. This. Is the standard, plan for this type of power on the 12th of March 2015. Mitsubishi Heavy, Industries. Demonstrated. Transmission. Of 10 kilowatts, kW of. Power to, a receiver, unit located at a distance, of 500 meters. M away. Topic. Challenges. Topic. Potential. The. SPSP, concept, is attractive, because space, has several, major advantages. Over the Earth's surface for, the collection, of solar power. It. Is always solar noon in space and full Sun. Collecting. Surfaces, could receive much more intense, sunlight owing, to the lack of obstructions. Such as atmospheric, gases clouds, dust, and other weather events. Consequently. The intensity, in orbit is approximately. One hundred and forty-four percent of the maximum, attainable intensity. On Earth's surface a. Satellite. Could be illuminated. Over 99%. Of the time and be in Earth's shadow a maximum. Of only 72. Minutes per night at the spring and fall equinoxes. At local, midnight. Orbiting. Satellites, can be exposed, to a consistently. High degree, of solar, radiation, generally. For 24, hours per day whereas, Earth's surface solar, panels, currently, collect power for an average of, 29%, of the day. Hour. Could be relatively, quickly redirected. Directly, to areas, that need it most a. Collecting. Satellite, could possibly, direct power on demand to different, surface, locations. Based on geographical. Base load or peak load power needs. Typical. Contracts. Would be for base load continuous. Power since, peaking power is ephemeral. Elimination. Of plant and wildlife, interference. With, very large-scale, implementations. Especially. At lower altitudes. It potentially, can reduce incoming, solar radiation, reaching Earth's surface. This. Would be desirable, for counteracting. The effects of global, warming. Topic. Drawbacks. The, SPSP, concept, also has a number of problems. The. Large cost of launching, a satellite into space. The. Thinned array curves preventing. Efficient, transmission of power from space to the Earth's surface. Inaccessibility. Maintenance. Of an earth-based solar, panel, is relatively, simple, but construction, and maintenance on, a solar panel in space would typically, be done teller robotic, Li in. Addition, to cost astronauts. Working in geo geosynchronous. Earth orbit, are exposed, to unacceptably. High radiation. Dangers, and risk and cost about 1,000. Times more than the same task done teller robotic, Li, the. Space environment. Is hostile, panels. Suffer about eight times the degradation they. Would on earth except, at orbits that are protected, by the magnetosphere. Space. Debris is a major hazard, to large objects, in space and all large structures, such as SPSP, systems, have been mentioned, as potential, sources of orbital, debris. The. Broadcast, frequency. Of the microwave, downlink, if used would require isolating. The SP SP systems, away from other satellites. Geo. Space, is already well used and it is considered, unlikely the, itu would allow an SPS, to be launched. The. Large size and corresponding. Cost of the receiving, station on the ground. Energy. Losses during several phases of conversion, from photons, to electrons, two photons, back to electrons. Topic. Design. Space-based. Solar power sensually, consists, of three elements.
Collecting. Solar energy, in space with reflectors. Or inflatable, mirrors, onto solar cells. Wireless. Power transmission. To earth via microwave, or laser. Receiving. Power on earth via rectina. A microwave, antenna, space-based. Portion. Will not need to support itself against, gravity, other than relatively. Weak tidal, stresses, it. Needs no protection. From terrestrial wind, or weather but will have to cope with space, hazards, such as micro, meteors and solar flares. Two. Basic, methods of conversion, have been studied, photovoltaic, PV. And, solar dynamic, SD, most. Analyses, of SPSP, have focused, on photovoltaic, conversion, using. Solar cells that directly, convert sunlight into, electricity. Solar. Dynamic. Uses, mirrors to concentrate light. On a boiler, the use of solar dynamic. Could reduce mass per watt wireless. Power transmission. Was, proposed, early on as a means to transfer, energy from collection, to the Earth's surface using, either microwave. Or laser radiation, at, a variety of frequencies. Topic. Microwave. Power transmission. William. C Brown demonstrated. In, 1964. During Walter, Cronkite CBS, news program, a microwave, powered, model helicopter. That received all the power it needed for flight from a microwave, beam. Between. 1969. And, 1975. Bill Brown was technical, director of a JPL, Raytheon, program, that beamed 30 kilowatts, of power over a distance of one mile 1.6, kilometers. At, 84, percent efficiency. Microwave. Power transmission. Of tens of kilowatts has, been well proven by existing, tests, at Goldstone, in California. 1975. And grand Bassin on Reunion Island. 1997. More. Recently, microwave. Power transmission. Has been demonstrated in, conjunction, with solar, energy capture. Between, a mountaintop, in Maui in the island of hawaii 92. Miles away by a team under john c Mankins. Technological. Challenges, in terms of array layout single, radiation, element design and overall efficiency as. Well as the associated, theoretical. Limits are presently a subject, of research as, it was demonstrated by the special, session on analysis. Of, electromagnetic. Wireless, systems, for solar power, transmission. Held. During the 2010, I Triple E symposium. On antennas, and propagation, in. 2013. A useful, overview was published, covering, technologies. And issues associated with, microwave. Power transmission. From space to ground it. Includes, an introduction, to SPS, current, research, and future prospects. Moreover. A review, of current methodologies. And technologies for, the design of antenna arrays for microwave, power transmission. Appeared in the Proceedings, of the IEEE Tripoli. Topic. Laser, power, beaming. Laser. Power, beaming, was envisioned by some at NASA as a stepping stone to further, industrialization. Of space, in. The 1980s. Researchers. At NASA worked, on the potential, use of lasers, for space to space power beaming, focusing, primarily on, the development, of the solar-powered laser, in. 1989. It was suggested that, power could also be usefully, beamed by laser from earth to space, in. 1991. The Saleen project, space laser energy, had begun which included, the study of laser power beaming, for supplying power to a lunar base, the. Saleen program, was a two-year, research effort, but the cost of taking the concept, to operational. Status was, too high and the official, project ended, in 1993. Before reaching, a space-based, demonstration. In 1988. The use of an earth-based, laser to power an electric thruster. For space propulsion, was proposed, by grant Logan, with technical, details, worked out in 1989. He. Proposed using, diamond solar cells operating, at 600. Degrees to, convert ultraviolet. Laser light. Topic. Orbital. Location. The, main advantage, of locating, a space power station, in geostationary. Orbit, is that the antenna geometry. Stays constant. And so keeping, the antennas, lined up is simpler. Another.
Advantage, Is that nearly continuous, power transmission. Is immediately, available as, soon as the first space power station. Is placed in orbit other space-based. Power stations. Have much longer startup, times before, they are producing, nearly continuous. Power a, collection. Of Leo low-earth. Orbit, space, power stations. Has been proposed, as a precursor, to geo geostationary. Orbit, space-based. Solar power. Topic. Earth-based. Receiver. The. Earth-based, rectina, would likely consists, of many short dipole antennas, connected via diodes. Microwave. Broadcasts. From the satellite, would be received, in their dipoles, with about 85%, efficiency. With. A conventional, microwave. Antenna, the reception efficiency. Is better but its cost and complexity, are also considerably. Greater, rec, tenors would likely be several, kilometres across. Topic. In space, applications. A. Laser. SP SP could also power a base or vehicles, on the surface, of the Moon or Mars saving. On mass costs, to land a power source a, spacecraft. Or another satellite, could also be powered by the same means, in. A 2012, report presented. To NASA on space solar power the author mentions. Another potential, use for the technology, behind space, solar power could be for solar electric, propulsion systems, that, could be used for interplanetary. Human, exploration missions. Topic. Launched costs. One. Problem, for the SP SP concept, is the cost of space launches, in the amount of material, that would need to be launched. Much. Of the material launched. Need not be delivered to its eventual orbit, immediately which. Raises the possibility that, high efficiency. But slower engines, could move SPS, material. From leo to geo at an acceptable cost. Examples. Include ion, thrusters, or nuclear, propulsion power. Beaming, from geostationary. Orbit, by microwaves. Carries, the difficulty, that the required, optical. Aperture, sizes, are very large. For. Example the. 1978. NASA SPS, study required, a 1 km diameter, transmitting. Antenna and a 10 kilometers, diameter. Receiving, rechtin up for a microwave, beam at 2.45. Gigahertz. These. Sizes can be somewhat, decreased by using shorter wavelengths, although they have increased, atmospheric absorption, and, even potential, beam blockage, by rain or water droplets.
Because. Of the thinned array curse it is not possible, to make a narrower, beam by combining, the beams of several, smaller satellites. The. Large size of the transmitting. And receiving antennas. Means that the minimum practical, power level, for an SPS, will necessarily be, high small, SPS, systems, will be possible, but uh neck anomic to give an idea of the scale of the problem assuming, a solar panel mass of 20 kilograms, per kilowatt, without considering. The mass of the supporting, structure, antenna, or any significant. Mass reduction, of any focusing, mirrors a 4 gigawatts, power station. Would weigh about 80,000. Metric tons, all of which would encourage, circumstances. Be launched, from the earth, very. Lightweight designs. Could likely achieve, one kilogram per kilowatt, meaning, four thousand, metric tons for, the solar panels, for the same 4 gigawatts, capacity. Station, this. Would be the equivalent of between 40. And 150. Heavy lift launch vehicle HL. LV launchers, to send the material, to low-earth orbit, where it would likely be converted. Into sub-assembly solar, arrays which then could use high-efficiency. Ion, engines style rockets to slowly reach geo, geostationary. Orbit, with. An estimated, serial launch cost for shuttle based H ll V's of five hundred million, dollars to eight hundred million dollars, and launch costs, for alternative, H ll V's at seventy, eight million dollars total launch, costs, would range between eleven, billion dollars low-cost, HL, l V low weight panels, and three hundred and twenty billion dollars, expensive. HL, LV heavier, panels, to. These costs, must be added the environmental. Impact of heavy space launch missions, if such costs, are to be used in comparison. To earth-based, energy, production. For. Comparison. The direct cost of a new coal or nuclear power plant, ranges, from three billion dollars, to six billion dollars, per gigawatt, not including, the full cost to the environment from, co2 emissions. Or storage, of spent nuclear fuel, respectively. Another, example, is the Apollo missions, to the moon cost a grand total of twenty four billion dollars. 1970s. Dollars, taking, inflation into account would, cost one hundred and forty billion dollars today more, expensive, than the construction, of the International, Space Station. Topic. Building. From space. Topic. From, lunar materials, launched, in orbit. Jerrod. O'Neill, noting the problem, of high launch costs, in the early 1970s. Proposed. Building, the SPS, is in orbit with materials, from the moon, launch. Costs, from the moon are potentially, much lower than from Earth due to the lower gravity, and lack of atmospheric, drag, this. 1970s. Proposal, assumed, the then advertised, future, launch costing, of NASA's Space Shuttle this. Approach, would require substantial, upfront. Capital investment. To establish, mass drivers, on the moon, nevertheless. On, the 30th, of April, 1979. The, final report lunar. Resources. Utilization. For space construction. By. General, Dynamics convair. Division, under NASA contract, na s nine -, fifteen, thousand. 560. Concluded. That use of lunar resources, would be cheaper, than earth-based, materials. For a system, of as few as 30 solar power satellites, of 10 gigawatts capacity. Each in 1980. When it became obvious NASA's. Launch cost estimates, for the Space Shuttle were, grossly optimistic. O'Neill EDL published, another route to manufacturing. Using lunar, materials, with much lower start-up, costs, this. 1980s. SPS, concept, relied less on human, presence in space and, more on partially, self-replicating. Systems, on the lunar surface under, remote control, of workers stationed, on earth the. High net energy gain of this proposal, derives, from the moon's much shallower gravitational.
Well. Having. A relatively, cheap per pound source of raw materials, from space would lessen the concern, for low-mass designs and result in a different, sort of SPS, being built the. Low cost per pound of lunar materials. In O'Neill's vision would be supported, by using lunar material, to manufacture. More facilities, in orbit than just solar power satellites. Advanced. Techniques, for launching, from the moon may reduce the cost of building a solar power satellite, from lunar materials. Some. Proposed techniques, include, the a mass driver and the lunar space elevator, first, described, by Jerome, Pearson, it. Would require establishing. Silicon, mining and solar cell manufacturing, facilities. On the moon. Topic. On the moon. Physicist. Dr. David, Cresswell suggests. The moon is the optimum, location for solar power stations. And promotes, lunar based solar power, the. Main advantage, he envisions, is construction. Largely from locally, available lunar. Materials, using in situ, resource utilization, with, a teleoperated. Mobile, Factory in crane to assemble, the microwave, reflectors, and Rovers, to assemble, and pave solar cells which would significantly reduce. Launch, costs, compared, to SB SP designs. Power. Relay, satellites, orbiting, around Earth and the moon reflecting. The microwave, beam are also part of the project a demo. Project, of one gigawatt, starts, at 50 billion dollars the. Shimizu Corporation. Use combination. Of lasers, and microwave, for the lunar ring concept, along, with power relays, satellites. Topic. From, an asteroid. Asteroid. Mining has also been, seriously, considered, a NASA, design, study evaluated. A 10,000, ton mining, vehicle, to be assembled, in orbit that would return a 500, thousand ton asteroid, fragment, to geostationary. Orbit, only. About 3,000. Tons of the mining ship would be traditional aerospace-grade, payload. The. Rest would be reaction. Mass for the mass driver engine, which could be arranged to be the spent rocket stages, used, to launch the payload. Assuming. That 100, percent of the returned asteroid, was useful, and that the asteroid, miner itself, couldn't be reused, that represents. Nearly a 95, percent reduction. In launch costs. However. The, true merits of such a method would depend on a thorough mineral, survey of the candidate, asteroids, thus far we have only estimates, of their composition. One. Proposal, is to capture the asteroid, Apophis into, Earth orbit and convert, it into 150. Solar, power satellites. Of 5 gigawatts each or the larger, asteroid. 1999. A and 10 which is 50, X the size of Apophis and large enough to build.
7,500. 5 gigawatt, solar power satellites. Topic. Gallery. Topic. Counter-arguments. Topic. Safety. The. Use of microwave, transmission. Of power has been the most controversial, issue in considering, any SPS, design, at. The, Earth's surface a, suggested. Microwave, beam would have a maximum, intensity, at its center of 23. Million per, square centimeter, less than one-quarter, the solar irradiation, constant. And an intensity, of less than 1 milli watt per square centimeter, outside, the rectum fence line, the receivers, perimeter, these. Compared, with current, United States Occupational. Safety and Health Act OSHA workplace. Exposure, limits, for microwaves, which are 10 milli watts per square centimeter, the limit itself being expressed, in voluntary, terms and ruled unenforceable. For federal osha enforcement. Purposes, a beam. Of this intensity, is therefore, it at center of a similar, magnitude to, current safe workplace, levels, even for long term or indefinite, exposure, outside. The receiver it is far less than the OSHA long-term levels, over 95%, of, the beam energy will fall on the retina, the. Remaining, microwave, energy will be absorbed and dispersed, well within standards, currently imposed, upon microwave. Emissions around the world it. Is important, for system, efficiency. That as much of the microwave, radiation, as possible be focused, on the retina. Outside. The retina, microwave, intensities. Rapidly, decrease, so, nearby, towns or other human activities, should be completely, unaffected exposure. To the beam is able to be minimized in other ways on the. Ground physical, access is controllable, eg, via fencing, and typical, aircraft flying, through the beam provide, passengers. With a protective metal, shell ie a Faraday, cage which, will intercept, the microwaves. Other. Aircraft. Balloons, ultralight, etc. Can avoid exposure, by observing, air flight control, spaces, as is currently done for military and other controlled, airspace, the. Microwave, beam intensity, at ground level in the center of the beam would be designed and physically, built into the system simply. The transmitter, would be too far away and too small to be able to increase the intensity to, unsafe, levels even in principle. In. Addition, a design, constraint, is that the microwave, beam must not be so intense as to injure wildlife, particularly, Birds. Experiments. With deliberate, microwave, irradiation at. Reasonable, levels have failed to show negative, effects, even over multiple, generations. Suggestions. Have been made to locate rec tenors offshore but this presents serious, problems, including. Corrosion, mechanical. Stresses and biological. Contamination, a. Commonly. Proposed, approach to ensuring, fail-safe, beam targeting, is to use a retro, directive, phased array antenna, rectina, a. Pilot. Microwave. Beam emitted from the center of the retina on, the ground establishes. A phase front at the transmitting, antenna, their. Circuits, in each of the antennas sub-arrays. Compare, the pilot, beams phase front with an internal clock phase to control the phase of the outgoing signal. This. Forces the transmitted, beam to be centered, precisely, on the retina, and to have a high degree of phase uniformity. If the pilot beam is lost for any reason, if the transmitting. Antenna is turned away from the retina for, example, the phase control, value, fails in the microwave, power beam is automatically, defocused. Such. A system, would be physically, incapable of focusing, its power beam anywhere, that did not have a pilot, beam transmitter. The. Long-term effects, of beaming power through, the ionosphere in, the form of microwaves, has yet to be studied, but nothing has been suggested which, might lead to any significant. Effect. Topic. Timeline. Topic. In the 20th century. 1941. Isaac Asimov published. The science, fiction short story, reason. In, which a space station transmits, energy, collected. From the Sun to various, planets, using microwave, beams. 1968. Dr. Peter Glazer introduces. The concept of, a solar, power, satellite. System. With square miles of solar collectors in, high geosynchronous. Orbit, for collection, and conversion, of sun's energy into, a microwave, beam to transmit, usable, energy to large receiving.
Antennas, Rack tanners on earth for distribution. 1973. Dr., Peter Glaser is granted, United, States patent number 3 million, 780. 1647. For his method, of transmitting, power over, long distances, using microwaves, from a large 1 square kilometer, antenna, on the satellite, to a much larger one on the ground now known as a retina. 1978. To 81, the united, states department of, energy and nasa examined, the solar power satellite, SPS, concept. Extensively. Publishing. Design and feasibility, studies. 1987. Stationary. High-altitude real, a platformer. Canadian, experiment. 1995. To 97. NASA conductor. Freshlook. Study. Of space solar power SSP, concepts. And technologies. 1998. The space solar power concept. Definition study. CDs identifies. Credible, commercially. Viable SSP. Concepts. While pointing our technical, and programmatic risks. 1998. Japan, Space Agency, begins developing, a space solar power system, SSPs. A program. That continues, to the present day. 1999. Nasa's, space solar power exploratory. Research and, technology. Program se, RT see below begins. 2000. John Mankins, of nasa testifies. In the US House of Representatives saying. Large-scale. SSP, is a very complex, integrated, system, of systems that requires, numerous, significant. Advances, in current, technology, and capabilities. A. Technology. Roadmap, has been developed, that lays out potential, paths for achieving all needed advances, will. Be it over several decades. Topic. In the 21st, century. 2001. NASD. A one, of Japan's national, space agencies. Before it became part of J AXA, announces. Plans to perform additional, research, and prototyping. By launching, an experimental, satellite. With 10 kilowatts, and 1 megawatt of power. 2003. ESA, studies. 2007. The u.s. Pentagon's. National, security, space office NSSO. Issues, a report on October, 10th 2007. Stating. They intend to collect solar, energy, from space for use on earth to help the United States, ongoing, relationship. With the Middle East and the battle for oil a demo. Planned could cost ten billion, dollars produce, 10 megawatts, and become, operational, in 10 years. 2007. In May, 2007. A workshop, is held at the u.s. Massachusetts. Institute of, Technology MIT. To. Review the current state of the SPSP, market, and technology. 2010. Professors. Andrea Mathur and Giorgio francesca, T announced, a special session, on the analysis. Of electromagnetic. Wireless, systems, for solar power transmission. At. The 2010, Institute, of Electrical and, Electronics, Engineers, international. Symposium. On antennas, and propagation. 2010. The Indian Space Research, Organisation. And US National, Space Society launched. A joint forum. To enhance partnership. In harnessing, solar energy, through space-based, solar collectors. Called. The Kalam NSS, initiative, after the former Indian president dr., APJ Abdul. Kalam the forum will lay the groundwork for the space-based. Solar power program. Which could see other countries joining, in as well. 2010. Skies, No Limit space-based.
Solar Power, the next major step in the Indo us strategic, partnership, written, by USAF. Lt, Col Peter Garretson, was published, at the Institute, for Defense studies, and analysis. 22. Well China, proposed, joint development between. India and China towards. Developing, a solar power satellite, during a visit by former, Indian president dr., APJ Abdul, Kalam. 2015. The space solar power initiative s, SPI, is established, between Caltech. And Northrop Gruman, corporation, an, estimated. Seventeen, point five million dollars, is to be provided over a three year project for, development, of a space-based, solar power system. 2015. J AXA, announced, on the 12th of March 2015. That they wirelessly, beamed 1.8. Kilowatts, 50, meters to a small receiver by converting, electricity, to microwaves, and then back to electricity. 2016. LT, gen genuine. Deputy. Chief of the PLA, armament, development, department, of the Central, Military Commission suggested. That China would next begin to exploit, earth-moon, space for industrial, development, the. Goal would be the construction, of space-based, solar power satellites. That would be menergy back to earth. 2016. A team with membership, from the Naval Research Laboratory, NRL. Defense, Advanced, Projects, Agency dar. PA Air Force Air University. Joint Staff logistics, j4, Department. Of State, Macon's, aerospace, and Northrop Gruman, won the Secretary, of Defense, SecDef. Secretary. Of State sec, sta, te, usaid. Directors. Agency-wide, d3. Diplomacy. Development defence, Innovation, Challenge with, a proposal, that the US must lead in space solar power, the. Proposal, was followed by a vision, video. 2016. Citizens. For space-based, solar power has transformed. The d3, proposal. Into active petitions, on the White House website. America. Must lead the transition to space-based, energy, and, change.org. USA. Must lead the transition, to space-based. Energy. Along. With the following video. 2016. Eric, Larsen and others from NOAA, producer. Paper global, at farik, response to emissions, from a proposed, reusable. Space launch system. The. Paper makes a case that up to two terawatts, per year of power satellites, could be constructed, without intolerable. Damage to the atmosphere. Before. This paper there was concern, that the NOx produced, by reentry, would destroy too much ozone. 2016. E'en cache of SIAC proposes. Cassiopeia constant, aperture solid-state. Integrated. Orbital, phased array a new concept, SPS one. 2017. NASA selects, five new research proposals. Focused, on investments, in space, the. Colorado, School of Mines focuses. On 21st. Century, trends in space-based, solar power generation, and storage. Topic. Non typical, configurations. And architectural. Considerations. The typical, reference, system of systems involves.
A Significant. Number several, thousand, multi gigawatt, systems, to service all or a significant. Portion of Earth's energy requirements. Of individual, satellites, in geo the. Typical, reference, design for the individual, satellite, is in the 1 to 10 gigawatts range, and usually, involves, planar or concentrated. Solar photovoltaics. PV. As the energy collector, conversion. The. Most typical transmission. Designs are in the 1 to 10 gigahertz. 2.45. Or 5.8. Gigahertz RF. Band where there are minimum losses in the atmosphere. Materials. For the satellites, are sourced from and manufactured. On earth and expected, to be transported. To Leo via reusable. Rocket launch and transported. Between Leo and geo via, chemical or electrical propulsion. In. Summary, the architecture. Choices, are location. Equals geo energy, collection equals, PV satellite, equals, monolithic, structure, transmission. Equals RF materials, and manufacturing, equals, earth installation. Equals R LVS Tullio chemical. - geo theory are several interesting, design variants, from the reference, system alternate, energy collection location. While geo is most typical, because of its advantages of nearness to earth simplify. Pointing, and tracking, very small time in occultation and scalability, to meet all global demands several, times over other locations. Have been proposed, sun-earth, l1, Robert, Kennedy the third ken Roy and David fields have proposed, a variant, of the l1 sunshade, called Dyson, dots where a multi terawatt, primary, collector, would beam energy back, to a series, of Leo Sun synchronous receiver, satellites. The. Much farther distance, to earth requires, a correspondingly. Larger, transmission. Aperture, lunar. Surface dr., David Cresswell has proposed, using, the lunar surface itself, as the collection medium, beaming, power to the ground virus, series of microwave, reflectors, in Earth orbit, the. Chief advantage of this approach would be the ability to manufacture, the solar collectors, in situ, without the energy cost and complexity, of launch. Disadvantages. Include the much longer distance, requiring, larger, transmission. Systems, the required overbilled to deal with the lunar night and the difficulty, of sufficient, manufacturing. And pointing, of reflector, satellites. Mayo. Mayo, systems, have been proposed, for in space utilities. And beam power propulsion. Infrastructures. For. Example, see Royce jones paper highly. Elliptical orbits, molniya tundra. Or quasi zenith, orbits, have been proposed, as early locations for, niche markets, requiring, less energy, to access, and providing, good persistence. Sun. Sync Leo in this near polar orbit, the satellites, process, at a rate that allows them to always face the Sun as they rotate around Earth, this. Is an easy to access orbit. Requiring, far, less energy and its proximity to earth requires, smaller, and therefore, less massive transmitting. Apertures. However. Disadvantages. To this approach include, having to constantly shift, receiving, stations, or storing, energy for a burst transmission. This. Orbit is already crowded and has significant. Space debris. Equatorial. Leo Japan's, SPS, 2000. Proposed, an early demonstrator. In equatorial, Leo in which multiple equatorial. Participating. Nations could, receive some power Earth's. First dr. Narayan Komarov, has proposed, a space power grid where excess, energy from an existing grid, or power plant, on one side of the planet can be passed up to orbit, across to another satellite, and down to receivers, energy, collection the most typical, designs for solar power satellites. Include, photovoltaics. These. May be planar and usually, passively, called, concentrated. And perhaps actively. Cooled, however. There, are multiple interesting. Variants. Solar. Thermal proponents. Of solar thermal have, proposed, using, concentrated, heating. To cause a state change in a fluid to extract, energy via rotating, machinery, followed, by cooling, in radiators. Advantages. Of this method might, include overall, system, mass disputed. Non degradation, due, to solar wind damage and radiation. Tolerance. One. Recent thermal, solar power satellite, designed, by Keith Henson, and others has been visualized. Here, two. Solar. Pump laser Japan, has pursued, a solar pumped, laser where, sunlight directly excites.
The Lusting medium used to create the coherent, beam to earth. Fusion. Decay this version of a power satellite, is not solar. Rather. The vacuum of space is, seen as a feature. Not a bug for. Traditional, fusion, / dr. Paul were Bo's after, fusion even, neutral particles. Decay two charged, particles, which in a sufficiently large volume, would allow direct conversion, to current. Solar. Wind loop also, called a Dyson, Harrod satellite, here, the satellite, makes you snot of the photons, from the Sun but, rather the charged particles, in the solar wind which, fire, electromagnetic. Coupling generator, current in a large loop. Direct. Mirrors early concepts. For direct mirror redirection. Of light to planet Earth suffered, from the problem, that rays coming, from the Sun are not parallel but are expanding, from a disk and so the size of the spot on the earth is quite large. Dr.. Lewis Fras has, explored, an array of parabolic. Mirrors to augment existing solar. Arrays alternate. Satellite, architecture. The typical, satellite is Amnon ethic structure, composed, of a structural, truss one or more collectors, one or more transmitters. And occasionally. Primary, and secondary reflectors. The. Entire structure, may be gravity, gradient stabilized. Alternative. Designs, include. Swarms. Of smaller satellites, some, designs propose, swarms, of free flying smaller, satellites. This. Is the case with several laser designs, and appears, to be the case with CA OTEC HS flying carpets. For. RF designs, and engineering. Constraint, is the sparse array problem. Free-floating. Components. Silurian, has proposed, an alternative to, the monolithic, structure, where the primary reflector. And transmission. Reflector, of free flying. Spin. Stabilisation, NASA, explored, a spin stabilized, thin film concept. Photonic. Laser frustr, PLT. Stabilized. Structure. Dr., young-bae has proposed, that photon, pressure may substitute, for compressive, members in large structures, transmission. The most typical, design for energy transmission, is fire an RF antenna at, below 10 gigahertz to erect inner on the ground. Controversy. Exists, between the benefits of klystrons, gyrotron, smog neutrons, and solid-state. Alternate. Transmission. Approaches, include. Blazer. Lasers, offer, the advantage, of much lower cost and mass to first power however, there is controversy, regarding benefits. Of efficiency. Blazers. Allow for much smaller transmitting. And receiving apertures. However. A highly, concentrated beam. Has eye safety, fire, safety and weaponization, concerns. Proponents. Believe they have answers, to all these concerns, a laser, based approach, must also find, alternative ways of coping with precipitation. Atmospheric. Waveguide, some, have proposed, it may be possible, to use a short, pulse laser to create an atmospheric, waveguide, through which concentrated. Microwaves. Could flow. Nuclear. Synthesis. Particle, accelerators. Based in the inner solar system whether in orbit or on a planet, such as mercury could, use solar energy to synthesize, nuclear, fuel from naturally, occurring materials. While. This would be highly inefficient, using, current technology. In terms of the amount of energy needed, to manufacture, the fuel compared, to the amount of energy contained in the fuel and would raise obvious, nuclear, safety issues, the basic, technology, upon, which such an approach would rely on has been in use for decades, making, this possibly, the most reliable, means of sending energy especially, over, very long distances in.
Particular From, the inner solar system to the outer solar system materials. And manufacturing, typical. Designs make use of the developed, industrial, manufacturing. System, extant, on earth and use earth-based materials. Both for the satellite and propellant. Variants. Include. Lunar. Materials, designs, exist, for solar power satellites. That source greater than 99%, of, materials, from lunar regolith with very small inputs, of vitamins. From. Other locations, using, materials, from the moon is attractive, because launched from the moon is in theory far less complicated, than from Earth there. Is no atmosphere and, so components. Do not need to be packed tightly in a narrow shell and survived vibration. Pressure and temperature, loads, launch. May be via a magnetic, mass driver and the requirement, to use propellant. For launch entirely. Launched. From the moon the Geo also, requires, far, less energy than from Earth's much deeper, gravity well, building. All the solar power satellites. To fully supply, all the required, energy for, the entire planet requires, less than one millionth of the mass of the Moon. Self-replication. On the moon NASA explored, a self-replicating, Factory. On the moon in 1980. More. Recently, Justin. Lewis Webber proposed, a method of speciated, manufacture. Of coral, based, upon John Mankins, SPS, alpha design. Asteroid. Or materials, some asteroids, are thought to have even lower delta v to recover materials, than the moon and some particular materials. Of interest such as metals, may be more concentrated, or easier to access. In. Space, in situ, manufacturing. With the advent of in space additive, manufacturing. Concepts. Such as spider, verb might allow mass launch of raw materials, for local extrusion, method, of installation. Transportation. Of material, to energy collection location. In the reference, designs component. Material, is launched via well understood chemical, rockets, usually, fully reusable launch. Systems. Tullio after, which either chemical, or electrical propulsion. Is, used to carry them to geo, the. Desired, characteristics. For this system, is very high mass flow at low total cost. Alternate. Concepts, include. Lunar. Chemical launch Ola has recently, showcased a concept, from a fully reusable chemical. Lander EXCI us to move materials from, the lunar surface to, llo or geo. Lunar. Mass driver launch, of materials, from the lunar surface using. A system similar to an aircraft carrier. Electromagnetic. Catapult, an, unexplored. Compact, alternative. Would be the slinger tron. Lunar. Space elevator, an equatorial, or, near equatorial. Cable extends, to and through the Lagrange point, this. Is claimed by proponents, to be lower in mass than a traditional mass, driver. Space. Elevator, a ribbon of pure carbon nanotubes. Extends, from its center of gravity in geostationary. Orbit, allowing, climbers, to climb up to geo. Problems. With this include, the material, challenge of creating a ribbon of such length with adequate, strength management. Of collisions, with satellites, and space debris and lightning. Mayo. Skyhook. As part of an AFRL, study roger leonard proposed, a meio skyhook. It. Appears that a gravity, gradient stabilized. Tether with its center of mass in Mayo can be constructed, of available, materials. The. Bottom of the skyhook, is close to the Atmos Verena non keep Orion orbit a reusable. Rocket can, launch to match altitude, and speed with, the bottom of the tether which is in a non keep Orion orbit, traveling much slower than typical, orbital, speed, the.
Payload Is transferred, and it climbs the cable the, cable itself, is kept from the orbiting, via electric, propulsion and/or, electromagnetic. Effects. Maglev. Launch start, room John Powell has a concept, for a very high mass flow system, in. A first-gen, system, built into a mountain accelerates. A payload through an evacuated, maglev, track a small. Onboard rocket, circle eise's the payload. Beamed. Energy launch Kevin, Parkin and escape dynamics, both have concepts, for ground-based, irradiation, of a monopropellant, launch, vehicle, using, RF energy, the. RF energy is absorbed and directly, heats the propellant, not unlike in any RV a style nuclear, thermal, laser. Motive, has a concept, for a laser based approach. Topic. In fiction. Space. Station's, transmitting, solar power have appeared in science, fiction works like Isaac Asimov's, reason. 1941. That centers, around the troubles, caused by the robots, operating. The station. Asimov's. Short story, the, last question. Also. Features, the use of SBS P to provide limitless energy, for use on earth in. Been bhavas novel power Sat, 2005. An entrepreneur. Strives to prove that his company's, nearly, completed, power satellite, and space plane a means of getting maintenance. Crews to the satellite, efficiently, are both safe and economically, viable while, terrorists, with ties to oil-producing. Nations. Attempt to derail these attempts, through subterfuge and, sabotage, various. Aerospace, companies, have also showcased, imaginative. Future, solar power satellites, in their corporate vision videos, including. Boeing Lockheed, Martin and United, Launch Alliance the, solar satellite, is one of three means of producing energy, in the browser-based, game, o game. Equals. Equals see also.
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