Space-Based Solar Power: Solar Panels On Spacecraft
Space-Based Solar Power: Solar Panels On Spacecraft
Space-Based Solar Power: Solar Panels On Spacecraft
Contents
1History
o 1.1Satellite Power System Concept Development and
Evaluation Program
1.1.1Discontinuation
o 1.2Space Solar Power Exploratory Research and
Technology program
o 1.3Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
2Advantages and disadvantages
o 2.1Advantages
o 2.2Disadvantages
3Design
o 3.1Microwave power transmission
o 3.2Laser power beaming
o 3.3Orbital location
o 3.4Earth-based receiver
o 3.5In space applications
4Launch costs
5Building from space
o 5.1From lunar materials launched in orbit
o 5.2On the Moon
o 5.3From an asteroid
o 5.4Gallery
6Safety
7Timeline
o 7.1In the 20th century
o 7.2In the 21st century
8Non-typical configurations and architectural considerations
9In fiction
10See also
11References
12External links
13Videos
History[edit]
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 SBSP concept, originally known as satellite solar-
power system (SSPS), was first described in November 1968. [6] In 1973 Peter
Glaser was granted U.S. patent number 3,781,647 for his method of transmitting power
over long distances (e.g. 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 rectenna, on the ground.[7]
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. [8]
Satellite Power System Concept Development and Evaluation
Program[edit]
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.[9][10] The study remains the most
extensive performed to date (budget $50 million). [11] Several reports were published
investigating the engineering feasibility of such an engineering project. They include:
Artist's concept of a solar power satellite in place. Shown is the assembly of a microwave transmission
antenna. The solar power satellite was to be located in a geosynchronous orbit, 35,786 kilometres (22,236 mi)
above the Earth's surface. NASA 1976
In 1999, NASA's Space Solar Power Exploratory Research and Technology program
(SERT) was initiated for the following purposes:
Design[edit]
Artist's concept of a solar disk on top of a LEO to GEO electrically powered space tug.
Launch costs[edit]
One problem for the SBSP concept is the cost of space launches and 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.
To give an idea of the scale of the problem, assuming a solar panel mass of 20 kg per
kilowatt (without considering the mass of the supporting structure, antenna, or any
significant mass reduction of any focusing mirrors) a 4 GW power station would weigh
about 80,000 metric tons,[65] all of which would, in current circumstances, be launched
from the Earth. This is, however, far from the state of the art for flown spacecraft, which
as of 2015 was 150W/kg (6.7 kg/kW), and improving rapidly.[66] Very lightweight designs
could likely achieve 1 kg/kW,[67] meaning 4,000 metric tons for the solar panels for the
same 4 GW capacity station. Beyond the mass of the panels, overhead (including
boosting to the desired orbit and stationkeeping) must be added.
1 kg/k 5 kg/k
20 kg/kW
W W
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 [68] or nuclear power plant ranges from $3
billion to $6 billion per GW (not including the full cost to the environment from CO2
emissions or storage of spent nuclear fuel, respectively).
On the Moon[edit]
Physicist Dr David Criswell suggests the Moon is the optimum location for solar power
stations, and promotes lunar-based solar power.[74][75][76] The main advantage he
envisions is construction largely from locally available lunar materials, using in-situ
resource utilization, with a teleoperated mobile factory and crane to assemble the
microwave reflectors, and rovers to assemble and pave solar cells, [77] which would
significantly reduce launch costs compared to SBSP designs. Power relay satellites
orbiting around earth and the Moon reflecting the microwave beam are also part of the
project. A demo project of 1 GW starts at $50 billion. [78] The Shimizu Corporation use
combination of lasers and microwave for the Luna Ring concept, along with power relay
satellites.[79][80]
From an asteroid[edit]
Asteroid mining has also been seriously considered. A NASA design study [81] evaluated
a 10,000-ton mining vehicle (to be assembled in orbit) that would return a 500,000-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% of the returned asteroid was useful, and that the asteroid
miner itself couldn't be reused, that represents nearly a 95% 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. [82] One
proposal is to capture the asteroid Apophis into earth orbit and convert it into 150 solar
power satellites of 5 GW each or the larger asteroid 1999 AN10 which is 50x the size of
Apophis and large enough to build 7,500 5-gigawatt solar power satellites [83]
Gallery[edit]
A Lunar base with a mass driver (the long structure that goes
toward the horizon). NASA conceptual illustration
Safety[edit]
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 mW/cm2 (less than 1/4 the solar
irradiation constant), and an intensity of less than 1 mW/cm2 outside the rectenna
fenceline (the receiver's perimeter).[84] These compare with current United
States Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) workplace exposure limits for
microwaves, which are 10 mW/cm2,[85][original research?] - the limit itself being expressed in
voluntary terms and ruled unenforceable for Federal OSHA enforcement purposes. [citation
needed]
A beam of this intensity is therefore at its center, of a similar magnitude to current
safe workplace levels, even for long term or indefinite exposure. [original research?] Outside the
receiver, it is far less than the OSHA long-term levels [86] Over 95% of the beam energy
will fall on the rectenna. The remaining microwave energy will be absorbed and
dispersed well within standards currently imposed upon microwave emissions around
the world.[87] It is important for system efficiency that as much of the microwave radiation
as possible be focused on the rectenna. Outside the rectenna, microwave intensities
rapidly decrease, so nearby towns or other human activity should be completely
unaffected.[88]
Exposure to the beam is able to be minimized in other ways. On the ground, physical
access is controllable (e.g., via fencing), and typical aircraft flying through the beam
provide passengers with a protective metal shell (i.e., a Faraday Cage), which will
intercept the microwaves. Other aircraft (balloons, ultralight, etc.) can avoid exposure by
observing airflight 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.
[89]
Suggestions have been made to locate rectennas offshore, [90][91] 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
retrodirective phased array antenna/rectenna. A "pilot" microwave beam emitted from
the center of the rectenna on the ground establishes a phase front at the transmitting
antenna. There, circuits in each of the antenna's subarrays compare the pilot beam's
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 rectenna 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 rectenna, for example) the phase control
value fails and the microwave power beam is automatically defocused. [88] 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.
Timeline[edit]
In the 20th century[edit]
Location = GEO
Energy Collection = PV
Satellite = Monolithic Structure
Transmission = RF
Materials & Manufacturing = Earth
Installation = RLVs to LEO, Chemical to GEO
There 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, simplified pointing and tracking, very small time in
occultation, and scalability to meet all global demand several times over, other locations
have been proposed:
In fiction[edit]
Space stations 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 SBSP to provide limitless energy for use on Earth.
In Ben Bova's novel PowerSat (2005), an entrepreneur strives to prove that his
company's nearly completed power satellite and spaceplane (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.[128]
Various aerospace companies have also showcased imaginative future solar power
satellites in their corporate vision videos, including Boeing, [129] Lockheed Martin,[130] and
United Launch Alliance.[131]
The solar satellite is one of three means of producing energy in the browser-based
game OGame.
See also[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Space-
based solar power.
References[edit]
The National Space Society maintains an extensive space solar power library of all
major historical documents and studies associated with space solar power, and major
news articles.
125. ^http://www.ulalaunch.com/uploads/docs/Published_Paper
s/Commercial_Space/SSP_12_15_sowers.pdf
126. ^ http://www.startram.com/
127. ^ https://thesis.library.caltech.edu/2405/
128. ^ Bova, Ben (2006-10-31). Powersat. ISBN 0765348179.
129. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEjPLHmFAM8 You
Just Wait
130. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQxfJzl2jkg The Next
100 Years
131. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxftPmpt7aA CIS-
Lunar 1000
External links[edit]
European Space Agency (ESA) – Advanced
Concepts Team, Space-based solar power
William Maness on why alternative energy and
power grids aren't good playmates and his plans for
beaming solar power from space. in Seed
(magazine)
The World Needs Energy from Space Space-based
solar technology is the key to the world's energy and
environmental future, writes Peter E. Glaser, a
pioneer of the technology.
Reinventing the Solar Power Satellite" , NASA 2004-
212743, report by Geoffrey A. Landis of NASA
Glenn Research Center
Japan's plans for a solar power station in space - the
Japanese government hopes to assemble a space-
based solar array by 2040.
Space Energy, Inc. - Space Energy, Inc.
Whatever happened to solar power satellites? An
article that covers the hurdles in the way of
deploying a solar power satellite.
Solar Power Satellite from Lunar and Asteroidal
Materials Provides an overview of the technological
and political developments needed to construct and
utilize a multi-gigawatt power satellite. Also provides
some perspective on the cost savings achieved by
using extraterrestrial materials in the construction of
the satellite.
A renaissance for space solar power? by Jeff Foust,
Monday, August 13, 2007 Reports on renewed
institutional interest in SSP, and a lack of such
interest in past decades.
"Conceptual Study of A Solar Power Satellite, SPS
2000" Makoto Nagatomo, Susumu Sasaki and
Yoshihiro Naruo
Researchers Beam 'Space' Solar Power in
Hawaii (Wired Science)
http://www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/library/index.htm
— The National Space Society's Space Solar Power
Library
The future of Energy is on demand? Special Session
at the 2010 Festival delle Città Impresa featuring
John Mankins (Artemis Innovation Management
Solutions LLC, USA), Nobuyuki Kaya (Kobe
University, Japan), Sergio Garribba (Ministry of
Economic Development, Italy), Lorenzo Fiori
(Finmeccanica Group, Italy), Andrea Massa
(University of Trento, Italy) and Vincenzo Gervasio
(Consiglio Nazionale dell'Economia ed del Lavoro,
Italy). White Paper- History of SPS
Developpements International Union of Radio
Science 2007
International SunSat design competition
A simulation of AM reception from an aerial
powering two inductive loads and recharging a
battery.
Videos[edit]
Solar power from space 5-minute video about
space-based solar power plants by the European
Space Agency
Powering the Planet 20-minute streaming video from
The Futures Channel that provides a "101" on
space-based solar power
Space Solar Power NewSpace 2010 Panel, 72
minutes
Space Solar Power and Space Energy
Systems SSI – Space Manufacturing 14 Panel –
2010 – 27 min
NASA DVD in 16 Parts Exploring New Frontiers for
Tomorrow's Energy Needs
Space Solar Power Press Conference September
12, 2008 (71 minutes)[clarification needed][who?] National Space
Society
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Photovoltaics
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Emerging technologies
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