Space-based solar power

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Space-based solar power (SBSP, SSP) is the concept of collecting solar power in outer space with solar power satellites (SPS) and distributing it to Earth. Its advantages include a higher collection of energy due to the lack of reflection and absorption by the atmosphere, the possibility of very little night, and a better ability to orient to face the Sun. Space-based solar power systems convert sunlight to some other form of energy (such as microwaves) which can be transmitted through the atmosphere to receivers on the Earth's surface.

Various SBSP proposals have been researched since the early 1970s,^[1][2] but as of 2014^[update] none is economically viable with the space launch costs. Some technologists propose lowering launch costs with space manufacturing or with radical new space launch technologies other than rocketry.

Besides cost, SBSP also introduces several technological hurdles, including the problem of transmitting energy from orbit. Since wires extending from Earth's surface to an orbiting satellite are not feasible with current technology, SBSP designs generally include the wireless power transmission with its associated conversion inefficiencies, as well as land use concerns for antenna stations to receive the energy at Earth's surface. The collecting satellite would convert solar energy into electrical energy, power a microwave transmitter or laser emitter, and transmit this energy to a collector (or microwave rectenna) on Earth's surface. Contrary to appearances in fiction, most designs propose beam energy densities that are not harmful if human beings were to be inadvertently exposed, such as if a transmitting satellite's beam were to wander off-course. But the necessarily vast size of the receiving antennas would still require large blocks of land near the end users. The service life of space-based collectors in the face of long-term exposure to the space environment, including degradation from radiation and micrometeoroid damage, could also become a concern for SBSP.

As of 2020, SBSP is being actively pursued by Japan, China,^[3] Russia, India, the United Kingdom,^[4] and the US.

In 2008, Japan passed its Basic Space Law which established space solar power as a national goal.^[5] JAXA has a roadmap to commercial SBSP.

In 2015, the China Academy for Space Technology (CAST) showcased its roadmap at the International Space Development Conference. In February 2019, Science and Technology Daily (科技日报, Keji Ribao), the official newspaper of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, reported that construction of a testing base had started in Chongqing's Bishan District. CAST vice-president Li Ming was quoted as saying China expects to be the first nation to build a working space solar power station with practical value. Chinese scientists were reported as planning to launch several small- and medium-sized space power stations between 2021 and 2025.^[6][7] In December 2019, Xinhua News Agency reported that China plans to launch a 200-tonne SBSP station capable of generating megawatts (MW) of electricity to Earth by 2035.^[8]

In May 2020, the US Naval Research Laboratory conducted its first test of solar power generation in a satellite.^[9] In August 2021, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) announced that it planned to launch a SBSP test array by 2023, and at the same time revealed that Donald Bren and his wife Brigitte, both Caltech trustees, had been since 2013 funding the institute's Space-based Solar Power Project, donating over $100 million.^[10][11] A Caltech team successfully demonstrated beaming power to earth in 2023.^[11]