Successful year long test of beaming solar power from space

[ursaminortaur]

The Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1) project launched on 3 January last year has successfully demonstrated the feasibility of collecting solar energy in space and beaming it to Earth.


https://www.independent.co.uk/space/space-solar-power-electricity-microwaves-b2480671.html

A landmark test of beaming solar power to Earth from a satellite has concluded successfully after a year-long mission.

The Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1) project launched on 3 January last year with the goal of demonstrating the feasibility of one day harvesting the Sun’s energy and transmitting it wirelessly back to Earth on a commercial scale.
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Caltech said the success of the mission would “help chart the future of space solar power”, though warned that a lot more research needs to be done before it becomes a reality.

“Solar power beamed from space at commercial rates, lighting the globe, is still a future prospect,” said Caltech president and professor of physics Thomas Rosenbaum. “But this critical mission demonstrated that it should be an achievable future.”
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Last year, Japanese space agency JAXA announced that it planned to set up a commercial-scale solar farm in space by 2025, while the European Space Agency (ESA) is also aiming to set up a development project through its Solaris programme.

[JohnB]

I had a friend, Patrick Collins, who was an economist who analysed the practicality of solar power satellites. Only he did it in 1990, and progress has been very slow since. Perhaps with Starship the launch costs might finally be economic.

[clissold345]

I think the energy beamed down to earth was detectable but tiny (not enough to light up an LED).

https://www.space.com/space-solar-power ... y-1st-time

"MAPLE demonstrated the transmission of energy wirelessly through space by sending energy from a transmitter to two separate receiver arrays around a foot away, where it was transformed into electricity. This was used to light up a pair of LEDs.

The instrument then beamed energy from a tiny window installed in the unit to the roof of Gordon and Betty Moore Laboratory of Engineering on Caltech’s campus in Pasadena."

[88V8]

This might be more effective.
And it's edible.

V8

[ursaminortaur]

I think the energy beamed down to earth was detectable but tiny (not enough to light up an LED).

https://www.space.com/space-solar-power ... y-1st-time

"MAPLE demonstrated the transmission of energy wirelessly through space by sending energy from a transmitter to two separate receiver arrays around a foot away, where it was transformed into electricity. This was used to light up a pair of LEDs.

The instrument then beamed energy from a tiny window installed in the unit to the roof of Gordon and Betty Moore Laboratory of Engineering on Caltech’s campus in Pasadena."

It wasn't meant to test transmission of power at a commercial level. There were three parts to the mission

1) Deployment of a lightweight structure in space to hold the solar cells and transmitter equipment. Any future commercial project will have to be lightweight if it is to be feasible to launch from Earth.

2). Testing and comparisons between different types of solar cell in the space environment to determine which functioned best and how the performance was affected by longtime exposure to cosmic rays and other space hazards.

3). Testing of feasibility of beaming collected power to target receivers on Earth.

https://phys.org/news/2024-01-space-solar-power-mission-successes.html

PS. It might be remembered that the Wright Brother's first powered flight only lasted 12 seconds. The amount of power transmitted by this first space based solar power system may be small but like the Wright Brother's first flight holds great promise.

[clissold345]

...

PS. It might be remembered that the Wright Brother's first powered flight only lasted 12 seconds. The amount of power transmitted by this first space based solar power system may be small but like the Wright Brother's first flight holds great promise.

Thanks for giving more detail. Yes I agree it's an impressive first step.

[Midsmartin]

I've not been able to find a link in my brief Google, but even this sort of scheme is not an answer to climate change in the long run.

Through the magic of "compound interest", if humanity keeps increasing our energy consumption as we insist on economic growth on a finite planet, then after a couple of centuries, merely the waste heat generated from "clean" energy will be enough to cause climate change.

Maybe someone else has a link with some numbers.

The only long term solution involves an end to economic growth. Anything else is a short term fix that allows us to increase the amount by which we can overshoot the long term carrying capacity of the planet.

[JohnB]

Of course you can achieve economic growth with constant energy consumption, and with really cheap power you can capture CO2 to bring the levels to below a pre-industrial level so the extract Solar Power Satellite flux is in balance. And with cheap power you can start off-worlding, on your way to Dyson Spheres and a Kardashev Type III civilisation across the galaxy. Or we could just download into our AIs which redesign their hardware to perform entropy constrained simulations.

But I expect solar panels in deserts will still be easier.

[odysseus2000]

As I understand it, the feasibility of power from orbit to earth has never been in doubt. We already send information from satellites to the ground, but there are concerns.

How can you get useable levels of power without very large ground arrays, or by focusing on dedicated receivers, a long way from people & animal/ bird life.

Large earth arrays so that the power is small all over the array will be expensive, but reduce the dangers of inadvertently frying life forms that happen to be near the receiver & these can be stationed where the power is needed.

Strong focused beams require less area, but fry anything that gets into the beam & if the transmitter glitched one could have a death ray burning across populated areas.

There are clearly ways to minimize dangers & costs with either idea, but what about all the renewable energy naysayers who will no longer be able to say: “Yes, but what happens after sun down!” Can we as a society really exterminate these folks most regular exclamation?

Regards,