SPACE-BASED SOLAR POWER

Solar power directly from space may arrive sooner than you think.

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Did You Know?

Every hour, more solar energy reaches the Earth than humans use in a year.

About 30%

of this energy is reflected back into space by the atmosphere.

Waste Not

Since clouds, atmosphere and nighttime are absent in space, satellite-based solar panels would be able to capture and transmit substantially more energy than terrestrial solar panels.

How Does it Work?

Solar panel equipped, energy transmitting satellites collect high intensity, uninterrupted solar radiation by using giant mirrors to reflect huge amounts of solar rays onto smaller solar collectors. This radiation is then wirelessly beamed to Earth in a safe and controlled way as either a microwave or laser beam.

{  Microwave Transmitting Solar Satellite  }

Sunlight reflects off these large mirrors into the center of the satellite
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Here the sunlight is transformed into uninterrupted microwave energy and beamed to Earth.

So... how far into space do

microwave transmitting solar satellites need to go?

384,400 KM
THE EARTH

THE SATELLITE:

35,000 KM

away from

the Earth

THE SATELLITE

This distance is called

geostationary orbit

THE MOON

{  Laser Transmitting Solar Satellite  }

These satellites would operate as a group with other similar satellites, due to their small size.
How far out are the
laser transmitting satellites?
THE EARTH

LASER SATELLITE

400 KM

Microwave Satellite
(35,000 KM)

{Laser Solar Satellites}

VS

{Microwave Solar Satellites}

Relatively low startup costs in the $500 million to $1 billion range.

The single launch per laser transmitting satellite would be self assembling, lowering costs and risks substantially.

The small diameter of the laser beam would make it simpler and cheaper to implement on the ground.

P
R
O
S

Steady, uninterrupted transmission of power through rain, clouds, and other atmospheric conditions.

Safely transmit power through air at intensities no greater than midday sun.

Provide upwards of 1 GW of energy to terrestrial reciever, enough to power a large city.

Comparatively low power of each individual satellite, in the area of 1 to 10 MW per satellite, would require several satellite to make a substantial impact.

There are several safety concerns with lasers in space, such as blinding and weaponization.

Laser transmitting satellites would have trouble beaming power through heavy clouds and rain.

C
O
N
S

Production cost in the tens of billions of dollars range, requiring as many as 100 launches into space, with space based assembly required.

The terrestrial receiver would be several kilometers in diameter.

The long distance of the satellite from Earth would make it nearly impossible to repair.