Space Based Solar Power

Research on space based solar power has been ongoing at caltech where professors harry atwater ali hajimiri and sergio pellegrino have received funding from the northrop grumman corporation to.

Space based solar power. Collecting solar energy in space with reflectors or inflatable mirrors onto solar cells or heaters for thermal systems wireless power transmission to earth via microwave or laser receiving power on earth via a rectenna a microwave. A space based solar power system might sound very cool and futuristic and it may seem at first blush an obvious answer to intermittency but this comes at a big cost. Space solar power can solve our energy and greenhouse gas emissions problems. However if a civilization constructed very large space based solar power satellites type i power levels might become achievable these could convert sunlight to microwave power and beam that to collectors on earth.

Space based solar power is the concept of capturing solar energy in outer space and transferring it directly to earth or other nearby planets. Space solar power gathers energy from sunlight in space and transmits it wirelessly to earth. In space the sun is always shining the tilt of the earth doesn t prevent the collection of power and there s no atmosphere to reduce the intensity of the sun s rays. Peter glaser of arthur d.

A space based solar power system could provide energy to everyone even in places that don t receive sunlight all year round like northern europe and russia. The concept of space based solar power also referred to as solar power satellites sps has been evolving for decades. Figure of a dyson swarm surrounding a star type ii civilization methods. The united states and the world need to find new sources of clean energy.

Among the possibly unanticipated challenges. The gain over the a good location on the ground is only a factor of 3 2 4 in summer 4 2 in winter at 35 latitude. Some 30 percent of all incoming solar radiation never makes it to ground level. Space based solar power essentially consists of three elements.

On earth solar power is greatly reduced by night cloud cover atmosphere and seasonality. About space solar power ssp also known as space based solar power or sbsp.