Space-based solar power is getting serious—can it solve Earth’s energy woes? Learn more: ScienceVisuals
Late last month in Munich, engineers at the European aerospace firm Airbus showed off what might be the future of clean energy. They collected sunlight with solar panels, transformed it into microwaves, and beamed the energy across an aircraft hangar, where it was turned back to electricity that, among other things, lit up a model of a city.
Major investments are likely far in the future, and myriad questions remain including whether beaming gigawatts of power down to the planet can be done efficiently—and without frying birds, if not people. But the idea is moving from concept papers to an increasing number of tests on the ground and in space. The European Space Agency —which sponsored the Munich demo—will next month propose to its member states a program of ground experiments to assess the viability of the scheme. The U.K.
But the biggest boost for the idea has come from falling launch costs. A solar power satellite big enough to replace a typical nuclear or coal-powered station will need to be kilometers across, demanding hundreds of launches. “It would require a large-scale construction site in orbit,” says ESA space scientist Sanjay Vijendran.
Lower weight components will also improve the cost calculus. “Sandwich panels,” pizza box–size devices with PV cells on one side, electronics in the middle, and a microwave transmitter on the other, could help. Put thousands of these together like a tiled floor and they form the basis of a space solar satellite without a lot of heavy cabling to shift power around. Researchers have been testing prototypes on the ground for years, but in 2020 a team at the U.S.
Ian Cash of the United Kingdom’s International Electric Company has developed a different approach. His proposed satellite uses large, fixed mirrors angled to deflect light onto a PV and microwave array while the whole structure rotates to keep the mirrors pointing sunward .
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