The Economist on Space Solar Power

A recent article in The Economist, 23 items of vital vocabulary you’ll need to know in 2023, was a fascinating list of new and not-so-new science and technology-related words / concepts that are starting to bubble up into everyday news stories and conversations. (If you have a free or paid account on The Economist website, or want to sign up for one, you can read or listen to the article linked above.)

The European Space Agency’s SOLARIS Space-based Solar Power Preparatory Programme, as mentioned in the referenced article

In good company with other vital new vocabulary such as passkeys and post-quantum cryptography, I am happy to note that Space Solar Power has been included near the bottom of the list. It’s exciting to see The Economist authors of this article state that the field of space solar power “… is experiencing a new dawn.”

Space solar power
The idea of capturing energy in space using huge solar arrays attached to orbiting satellites, and then beaming it down to Earth as microwaves, has been around since Isaac Asimov proposed it in a science-fiction story in 1941. But the sums have never added up: launching things into space simply costs too much. That could change if launch costs fall far enough, or if new space-based manufacturing techniques emerge, such as mining asteroids for raw materials. And in a high enough orbit, a solar-power satellite could stay in sunlight around the clock, providing a clean, reliable source of power. The European Space Agency sponsored a ground-based demonstration in Germany in 2022 as part of a proposed scheme called Solaris. America, Britain, China and Japan are also funding research in the field, which is experiencing a new dawn.

By Martin Adams, Aryn Braun, Joel Budd, Tom Standage and Vijay Vaitheeswaran
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Energy from Outer Space: A SSP Course on Udemy.com

This is the first of several course preview videos available at
https://www.udemy.com/course/space-solar-power/

The course author, John Clarkson, contacted me through C-SBSP to make me aware of this online course about space-based solar power. I have purchased the course and completed the 1-1/2 hours of included lectures on a broad range of SBSP-related topics. Many other learning resources are also included.

I have concluded that this course would be worthwhile to anyone seeking a solid introduction into the following topics from the course outline:

  • Space Based Solar Power (SBSP)
  • How SBSP works
  • What are its major advantages and drawbacks of SBSP?
  • Which nations are developing SBSP and why?
  • An idea of what it costs to get SBSP into orbit
  • Rockets, how they work, with some mathematics
  • Orbital mechanics and how this is relevant to SSP
  • Wider future market opportunities for SBSP, including direct and indirect markets both new and to be developed
  • Why SBSP will be an investment in the future
  • SBSP weapons – Are they feasible? Can we make them safe?
  • A wider knowledge of the economics of energy and how SBSP can change it

Energy from Outer Space on Udemy.com

Read more about the course author, John Clarkson, along with this and other related courses at his website, Future of Energy College.

Dr. M.V. “Coyote” Smith, Col, USAF-RET

Click to listen to this one-hour interview with Dr. Smith on the Space Business Podcast on Spotify

Leader in the space based solar power (SBSP) effort and my inspiration as a citizen-advocate, Dr. Smith’s unfaltering enthusiasm for SBSP in this recent podcast interview continues to be inspiring as well as informative.

In 2007, As Chief, Future Concepts “Dreamworks” out of the National Security Space Office, Col. Smith was one of the team leaders that organized and lead a unique, voluntary group of 170 academic, scientific, technical, legal, and business experts from around the world to compile and publish the architecture study, Space‐Based Solar Power As an Opportunity for Strategic Security. It was this study that rekindled my fascination with SBSP and led me to become a self-appointed advocate of this game-changing technology.

In March 2007, the National Security Space Office’s Advanced Concepts Office presented the idea of space‐based solar power (SBSP) as a potential grand opportunity to address not only energy security, but environmental, economic, intellectual, and space security as well.

Space‐Based Solar Power
As an Opportunity for Strategic Security
Phase 0 Architecture Feasibility Study
Report to the Director, National Security Space Office
Interim Assessment
Release 0.1
10 October 2007
https://citizensforspacebasedsolarpower.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/sbspinterimassesment0.1.pdf

China: The Long March 9 and Long Term Planning

President Kennedy Addresses Congress May 25, 1961
(Photo from NASA Commons on Flickr)

China plans to use a new super heavy-lift rocket currently under development to construct a massive space-based solar power station in geostationary orbit.

by Andrew Jones in June 28, 2021 Space News

The American four-year political cycle dissipates tremendous amounts of energy and opportunity like so much waste heat. Right, wrong or indifferent, when the first acts of every new administration are to undo the efforts of the previous administration in some made-for-television show of power and bravado, truly important projects like space-based solar power (SBSP), which require long-term planning and commitment, may literally never get off the ground for the citizens of the United States.

Without the authority to enter into international treaties, the private sector probably can’t implement SBSP on its own. Without the incentive to plan and execute outside of the four-year political cycle, the government probably can’t implement SBSP on it’s own.

Does logic suggest that a public-private partnership will be required to develop and implement SBSP for Americans? Do we have to rely on Congress to create that partnership? Spurring Congress to that meaningful action might fall on the shoulders of all Citizens for Space Based Solar Power.

Read the full Space News article:
China’s super heavy rocket to construct space-based solar power station

NSS: “Dear Earth”

Dear Earth: We’re Sorry for What We’ve Done to You…

The National Space Society announced today its “Dear Earth” campaign for space solar power has been named in the Best of Social Media category in the 42nd Annual Telly Awards.

https://space.nss.org/

It has long been C-SBSP’s assertion that Earth-found fuels–carbon-based, uranium, thorium, etc.–are all finite natural resources that will one day be more costly to extract than the value of the energy they will yield. On a planetary time scale, or even the time scale of humankind, when that day comes is practically irrelevant. If we are not prepared when that day does inevitably arrive, civilization as we know it, and perhaps even the existence of humankind, will no longer be sustainable.

To once again restate the obvious, the Sun is our virtually unlimited source of abundant, clean energy. The only question that remains is how best to harvest energy from the Sun to provide sustainable baseload power on a planetary scale. In C-SBSP’s opinion, the answer is space-based solar power (SBSP), with the following conditions:

  • SBSP development and deployment must be done with the agreement, cooperation and participation of all space-faring nations, for the common good of all humankind.
  • Given the potential century-level project timeline, conventional political cycles and economic models must be superseded.
  • SBSP must utilize off-planet manufacturing, construction and maintenance.
  • SBSP must harvest and utilize off-planet materials and resources.

AFRL SSPIDR – Space Power Beaming

Space Solar Power Incremental Demonstrations and Research Project (SSPIDR)

Earth Day 2021 was celebrated with the highlighting of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) efforts to test, develop and implement space-based solar power to eliminate current supply chain risks and provide power directly to U.S. expeditionary forces.

The now ubiquitous Global Positioning System (GPS) was originally developed for military applications and has evolved into a multi-use system that is used every day by the general public. The development of space-based solar power is sure to follow a similar path into peacetime use by the entire planet.

SSPIDR is a series of Integrated Demonstrations and Technology Maturation efforts at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate to address space-based power collection and transmission capabilities.

https://afresearchlab.com/technology/successstories/space-power-beaming/

Space-based solar power won’t be just a sci-fi dream forever, if things go according to the U.S. Air Force’s plans.

https://www.space.com/space-based-solar-power-air-force-sspidr-project

Space Solar Power has been internationally recognized as a foundational capability in need of development.

https://ladailypost.com/earth-day-feature-beaming-solar-power-from-satellite-array/

Space Security and Space Solar Power

ISS030-E-020039 (26 Dec. 2011) — This busy night time panorama was photographed by one of the Expedition 30 crew members from the International Space Station on Dec. 26, 2011. Comet Lovejoy streaks through the star-filled sky just to the right of center. The land mass is the coast of Chile, looking southeast, with several coastal cities in the capital city region near Santiago. A 28-mm focal length was used to record the image.

“I have often suggested that given humanity’s increasing and irreversible dependence on outer space for daily human needs, space will either be safe for all or for none.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan

The future of space based solar power is dependent on solving technical, financial and political issues. Could the security of outer space end up being the most difficult issue of all? Perhaps the collective need of all humankind for a virtually unlimited source of clean energy can be the catalyst for geopolitical agreement on a peaceful use of outer space.

What will space security look like in 2021?

The article, published in The Space Review and linked above, summarizes the current positions of the United States, our allies and our competitors in outer space. In a rather ominous summary, the author asks if space will ultimately be safe for all … or for none.

Is Space Solar Power Headed for Cislunar Space?

STS097-376-019 (7 December 2000) — A close-up view of the P6 solar array on the International Space Station (ISS), backdropped against the blackness of space and the Earth’s horizon. The P6 solar array is the first of eight sets of solar arrays that at the completion of the space station construction in 2006, will comprise the station’s electrical power system, converting sunlight to electricity.

C-SBSP has long believed that space-based solar power (SBSP) hardware should be manufactured in space, away from the deep gravity well of Planet Earth. Perhaps a cislunar application for SBSP will provide the impetus needed for the United States to develop the required space-based mining / refining, space-based manufacturing and space-based assembly technologies.

AFRL Ponders Solar Power Beaming for Lunar Patrol Sat

The article, published in Breaking Defense and linked above, explains how a novel satellite might just be an early consumer of space-based solar power.

Power Beaming & Space Solar Innovation by Dr. Paul Jaffe, PhD

Move energy, not mass.

This hour-long presentation by Dr. Paul Jaffee, PhD, of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory on July 30, 2020 is a comprehensive look at the past, present and future of power beaming and space based solar power. Power beaming is an integral part of space based solar power, and also has standalone terrestrial and space-based applications.

This video was livestreamed by the Homeland Defense & Security Information Analysis Center (HDIAC). The original podcast and links to additional resources highlighted by Dr. Jaffe may be found at:

https://www.hdiac.org/podcast/power-beaming/