Commercial Space Agencies Will Make Space-Based Solar Power A Reality
In recent years the SpaceX, Deep Space Industries, and other commercial space agencies have addressed the problem of the rising energy demands and developed a number of projects to make space-based solar power (SBSP) a reality. The concept presupposes placing a solar farm in orbit that would then harvest energy from the sun and beam the resulting electricity back to Earth using microwave- or laser-based wireless power transmission. The concept of an actual space-based solar array was first adopted by NASA in 1974, but constructing large arrays on Earth is an expensive and inefficient way of gathering power, because of weather patterns, seasons, and the day-night cycle which would interfere with reliable solar collection. Besides, the sunniest parts of the world are rather far from the major centers of demand (Western Europe, North America, India and East Asia) and at the present time, transmitting energy over that long a distance is virtually impossible. So, if orbited outside of the Earth’s atmosphere, the SBSP would have many advantages: it would be able to receive about 30% more power from the Sun, would be operational for almost 24 hours per day, and if placed directly above the equator, it wouldn’t be affected by the seasons either. The power would be beamed directly to anyone who needs it. Since putting anything in orbit, moving up all the materials required to build a large scale installation lacks cost effectiveness, companies are now looking for ways to reduce these costs. Elon Musk, SpaceX’s CEO, claims they want to bring the price down to $500 per pound (now it costs about $20,000 to place a kilogram (2.2lbs) into geostationary orbit and about half that for low-Earth orbit). You can read a more detailed report about the future of solar energy at storiesbywilliams.com, extremetech.com
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