Advantages of Space Solar Power

Unlike oil, gas, ethanol, and coal plants, space solar power does not emit greenhouse
gases.

Unlike coal and nuclear plants, space solar power does not compete for or depend upon
increasingly scarce fresh water resources.

Unlike bio-ethanol or bio-diesel, space solar power does not compete for increasingly
valuable farm land or depend on natural-gas-derived fertilizer. Food can continue to be a
major export instead of a fuel provider.

Unlike nuclear power plants, space solar power will not produce hazardous waste, which
needs to be stored and guarded for hundreds of years.

Unlike terrestrial solar and wind power plants, space solar power is available 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week, in huge quantities. It works regardless of cloud cover, daylight, or
wind speed.

Unlike nuclear power plants, space solar power does not provide easy targets for
terrorists.

Unlike coal and nuclear fuels, space solar power does not require environmentally
problematic mining operations.

Space solar power will provide true energy independence for the nations that develop it,
eliminating a major source of national competition for limited Earth-based energy
resources.

Space solar power will not require dependence on unstable or hostile foreign oil
providers to meet energy needs, enabling us to expend resources in other ways.

Space solar power can be exported to virtually any place in the world, and its energy can
be converted for local needs such as manufacture of methanol for use in places like
rural India where there are no electric power grids. Space solar power can also be used
for desalination of sea water.

Space solar power can take advantage of our current and historic investment in aerospace
expertise to expand employment opportunities in solving the difficult problems of energy
security and climate change.

Space solar power can provide a market large enough to develop the low-cost space
transportation system that is required for its deployment. This, in turn, will also bring the
resources of the solar system within economic reach.

Disadvantages of Space Solar Power

The large cost of launching a satellite into space

Maintenance of an earth-based solar panel is relatively simple, but construction and

maintenance on a solar panel in space would typically be done telerobotically. In addition
to cost, astronauts working in GEO orbit are exposed to unacceptably high radiation
dangers and risk and cost about one thousand times more than the same task done
telerobotically.

The space environment is hostile; panels suffer about 8 times the degradation they would
on Earth.

Space debris is a major hazard to large objects in space, and all large structures such as
SBSP systems have been mentioned as potential sources of orbital debris.

The large size and corresponding cost of the receiving station on the ground.

Requirements for Space Solar Power

The technologies and infrastructure required to make space solar power feasible include:

Low-cost, environmentally-friendly launch vehicles. Current launch vehicles are too

expensive, and at high launch rates may pose atmospheric pollution problems of their
own. Cheaper, cleaner launch vehicles are needed.

Large scale in-orbit construction and operations. To gather massive quantities of energy,
solar power satellites must be large, far larger than the International Space Station (ISS),
the largest spacecraft built to date. Fortunately, solar power satellites will be simpler than
the ISS as they will consist of many identical parts.

Power transmission. A relatively small effort is also necessary to assess how to best
transmit power from satellites to the Earths surface with minimal environmental impact.

HOW DOES IT WORK

Self-assembling satellites are launched into space, along with reflectors and a microwave or laser
power transmitter. Reflectors or inflatable mirrors spread over a vast swath of space, directing
solar radiation onto solar panels. These panels convert solar power into either a microwave or a
laser, and beam uninterrupted power down to Earth. On Earth, power-receiving stations collect
the beam and add it to the electric grid.
The two most commonly discussed designs for SBSP are a large, deeper space microwave
transmitting satellite and a smaller, nearer laser transmitting satellite.
Microwave Transmitting Satellites
Microwave transmitting satellites orbit Earth in geostationary orbit (GEO), about 35,000 km
above Earths surface. Designs for microwave transmitting satellites are massive, with solar
reflectors spanning up to 3 km and weighing over 80,000 metric tons. They would be capable of
generating multiple gigawatts of power, enough to power a major U.S. city.
The long wavelength of the microwave requires a long antenna, and allows power to be beamed
through the Earths atmosphere, rain or shine, at safe, low intensity levels hardly stronger than
the midday sun. Birds and planes wouldnt notice much of anything flying across their paths.
The estimated cost of launching, assembling and operating a microwave-equipped GEO satellite
is in the tens of billions of dollars. It would likely require as many as 40 launches for all
necessary materials to reach space. On Earth, the rectenna used for collecting the microwave
beam would be anywhere between 3 and 10 km in diameter, a huge area of land, and a challenge
to purchase and develop.
Laser Transmitting Satellites
Laser transmitting satellites, as described by our friends at LLNL, orbit in low Earth orbit (LEO)
at about 400 km above the Earths surface. Weighing in in at less than 10 metric tons, this
satellite is a fraction of the weight of its microwave counterpart. This design is cheaper too; some
predict that a laser-equipped SBSP satellite would cost nearly $500 million to launch and
operate. It would be possible to launch the entire self-assembling satellite in a single rocket,
drastically reducing the cost and time to production. Also, by using a laser transmitter, the beam
will only be about 2 meters in diameter, instead of several km, a drastic and important reduction.
To make this possible, the satellites solar power beaming system employs a diode-pumped alkali
laser. First demonstrated at LLNL in 2002 -- and currently still under development there -- this

laser would be about the size of a kitchen table, and powerful enough to beam power to Earth at
an extremely high efficiency, over 50 percent.
While this satellite is far lighter, cheaper and easier to deploy than its microwave counterpart,
serious challenges remain. The idea of high-powered lasers in space could draw on fears of the
militarization of space. This challenge could be remedied by limiting the direction that which the
laser system could transmit its power.
At its smaller size, there is a correspondingly lower capacity of about 1 to 10 megawatts per
satellite. Therefore, this satellite would be best as part of a fleet of similar satellites, used
together.
You could say SBSP is a long way off or pie in the sky (puns intended) -- and you'd largely
correct. But many technologies already exist to make this feasible, and many aren't far behind.
While the Energy Department isn't currently developing any SBSP technologies specifically,
many of the remaining technologies needed for SBSP could be developed independently in the
years to come. And while we don't know the future of power harvested from space, we are
excited to see ideas like this take flight (okay last pun, I promise).

HISTORY
The SBSP concept, originally known as satellite solar-power system (SSPS), was first described
in November 1968. In 1973 Peter Glaser was granted U.S. patent number 3,781,647 for his
method of transmitting power over long distances (e.g. from an SPS to Earth's surface) using
microwaves from a very large antenna (up to one square kilometer) on the satellite to a much
larger one, now known as a rectenna, on the ground.
Glaser then was a vice president at Arthur D. Little, Inc. NASA signed a contract with ADL to
lead four other companies in a broader study in 1974. They found that, while the concept had
several major problems chiefly the expense of putting the required materials in orbit and the lack
of experience on projects of this scale in space it showed enough promise to merit further
investigation and research.
Between 1978 and 1986, the Congress authorized the Department of Energy (DoE) and NASA to
jointly investigate the concept. They organized the Satellite Power System Concept Development

and Evaluation Program.The study remains the most extensive performed to date (budget $50
million).Several reports were published investigating the engineering feasibility of such an
engineering project.

WHAT IS SBSP
Space-based solar power or SBSP is another way of harnessing the power coming from the Sun.
It is a process of collecting solar energy in space and bringing it down for use on Earth. If you
are familiar with the usual method of solar power collection on the earths surface that makes use
of solar panels, SBSP is not that too different. Only this time the solar panels used to collect the
Suns energy are located on space, on a satellite in orbit. This satellite is called a solar power
satellite or SPS.
Collecting the Suns energy on space is much more efficient than when its done on the Earths
surface. First of all, the obstructions that reduce the capacities of Earth surface solar power
collection are almost non-existent in space. Satellite based solar panels can also collect solar
power on a 24 hours per day basis. An Earth-based solar collector can only do it for 12 hours at
most. 24 hours per day collection can be achieved at the Earths poles but it is very inconsistent.
Not to mention the fact that it can only be done for just six months of the year.
Weather and climate which are very common concerns for surface collectors dont affect an
orbiting satellite collector at all. A satellite might also have the capability to direct power to Earth
surface locations that need the energy the most.

However, space-based solar power has its own share of problems as well. The most glaring of
these problems is on how the solar power collected by the satellite can be transmitted back to
Earth. Using wires that extend from the Earths surface and connect to an orbiting satellite is
both impractical and impossible. So SBSP designs that make use of wireless power transmission
systems have been proposed by many. These are however still under development and not yet
being used.

WORKING :
SOLAR POWER SATELLITE (SPS) :
The idea of the Solar Power Satellite energy system is placing giant satellites, with wide arrays
of solar cells embedded on them, 22,336 miles above the Earth's surface in the geosynchronous
orbit. Every satellite thus will be illuminated by sunlight 24 hrs a day for most of the year.
Because of the 23" tilt of the Earths axis, the satellites pass either above or below the Earths
shadow. The equinox period in both spring and fall is the only time that they will be cast by the
shadow. They will be shadowed for less than 1% of the time during the year . Dr. Peter Glaser of
Arthur D. Little Inc., was the pioneer in introducing the concept of placing huge SPS in the GEO
(Geostationary Earth orbit) which can harness the sunlight, turn it into a electromagnetic beam,
and transmit this energy to the Earth in form of microwaves. After establishment of this concept
in 1968, NASA supported a research project undertaken by Department of Energy of the United
States of America, in the years following 1976 .

WIRELESSPOWER TRANSMISSION: In the year 1893, World Columbian

Exposition in Chicago witnessed a demonstration by Nikola Tesla which involved the
illuminating vacuum bulbs without the use of wires.William C. Brown, the pioneer in
wireless power transmission technology, had designed, developed a unit and
demonstrated to show how power can be transferred through free space by microwaves.
Brown published the first paper proposing wireless power transmission in 1961. And later
in the year 1964 he demonstrated a microwave-power driven model helicopter that
entirely received the power needed to fly from a microwave beam at 2.45 GHz which lies
in the ISM band. Point-to-point power transmission is typical characteristic of WPT. It
was shown that the power transmission efficiency can reach almost near to 100% .

WIRELESS POWER TRANSMISSION SYSTEM

A. Microwave Generator
The Microwave generator converts the DC power produced by the solar cells and to radiated RF
output. It consists of a DCRF conversion oscillator, which is typically low-power and followed
by a gain stage and finally a power amplifier (PA). Typically the microwave generating devices
are classified as microwave tubes (e.g klystron,

B. Transmittting Antenna
The antenna elements might be dipoles, slot antennas, or any other type of antenna, even
parabolic antennas. We need highly efficient amplifiers and generator for the MPT
system than that for the wireless communication system. For higher efficiency of beam
collection on rectenna array, highly stabilized and accurate phase and amplitude of microwave
are required when using the phased array system for the MPT

C. Rectenna
The concept and the name rectenna were conceived by W.C. Brown of Raytheon Company in
the early of 1960s. A RECTENNA is a RECTifying antENNA, a specially designed antenna that

is used to convert microwave energy into DC electricity directly. A multielement phased array
fashion with mesh pattern reflector elements is generally used to make it directional. Rectennas
are being designed as the receiving elements in proposed microwave power transmission (MPT)
schemes that use microwaves to transmit electric power to distant locations. Rectennas are used
in RFID tags; the energy to power the computer chip in the tag is received from the querying
radio signal by a small rectenna.One possible future application is a receiving antenna for solar
power satellites. A basic rectenna element consists of a dipole antenna with a Schottky diode
placed across the dipole elements. The diode does the rectification of the AC current in the
antenna induced by the microwaves, resulting the production of DC power. Schottky diodes are
preferred due to the lowest voltage drop and highest speed. They thus waste the least amount of
power for conduction and switching. Large rectennas are formed by an array of numerous similar
dipole

CONCLUSION
The increasing global energy demand is likely to continue for many decades. New power plants
of all sizes will be built. Fossils fuels will run off in another 3-4 decades. However energy
independence is something only Space based solar power can deliver. Space based solar power
(SBSP) concept is attractive because it is much more advantageous than ground based solar
power. It has been predicted that by 2030, the world needs 30TW power from renewable energy
sources and solar energy alone has the capability of producing around 600TW. The levels of
CO2 gas emission can be minimized and brought under control. Thus the problem of global
warming will be solved to a great extent.Based on current research space based solar power
should no longer be envisioned as requiring unimaginably
large initial investments. Moreover, space solar power systems appear to possess many
significant environmental advantages when compared to alternative approaches to meeting
increasing terrestrial demands for energy including necessity of considerably less land area than
terrestrial based solar power systems. Though the success of space solar power depends on
successful development of key technology, it is certain the result will be worth the effort. Space
solar power can completely solve our energyproblems long term. The sooner we start and the
harder we work, the shorter " long term" will be.

REFERENCE
[1]Space-Based Solar Power: As an Opportunity for Strategic Security. Report to the National
Security Space Office, October 2007, 75 pages.
[2] Wireless Power Transmission for Solar Power Satellite (SPS) (Second Draft by N.
Shinohara), Space Solar Power Workshop, Georgia Institute of Technology.
[3] Microwave Devices and Circu it IIIrd Edition 2003 Pearson Education, by Samuel Y. Liao
[4] G. A. Landis, "Applications for Space Power by Laser Transmission," SPIE Optics, Electrooptics & Laser Conference, Los Angeles CA, January 24-28 1994; Laser Power Beaming, SPIE
Proceedings Vol. 2121, 252-255.
[5]G. Landis, M. Stavnes, S. Oleson and J. Bozek, "Space Transfer with Ground-Based
Laser/Electric Propulsion" (AIAA-92-3213) NASA Technical Memorandum TM-106060 (1992).
[6]W. C. Brown and E. E. Eves, "Beamed microwave power transmission and its application
to space," IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 40, no. 6, June 1992.
[7]Antenna and Wave Guide Propagation, by K.D. Prasad
[8] NASA Video, date/author unknown
[9]Wireless Power Transmission for Solar Power Satellite (SPS) (Second Draft by N.
Shinohara), Space Solar Power Workshop, Georgia Institute of Technology.
[10]Brown., W. C. (September 1984). "The History of Power Transmission by Radio Waves."
Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on (Volume: 32, Issue: 9 on page(s):
1230- 1242 + ISSN: 0018-9480

LAUNCH COSTS
One problem for the SBSP concept is the cost of space launches and the amount of material that
would need to be launched. Reusable launch systems are predicted to provide lower launch costs
to low Earth orbit . As of November 2013, one company, SpaceX, is two years along on a
privately funded multi-year development program for a reusable rocket launching system with
the stated intention to commercialize "fully and rapidly reusable" launch technology.
Much of the material launched need not be delivered to its eventual orbit immediately, which
raises the possibility that high efficiency engines could move SPS material from LEO to GEO at
an acceptable cost. Power beaming from geostationary orbit by microwaves carries the difficulty
that the required 'optical aperture' sizes are very large. For example, the 1978 NASA SPS study
required a 1-km diameter transmitting antenna, and a 10 km diameter receiving rectenna, for a
microwave beam at 2.45 GHz. These sizes can be somewhat decreased by using shorter
wavelengths, although they have increased atmospheric absorption and even potential beam
blockage by rain or water droplets. Because of the thinned array curse, it is not possible to make
a narrower beam by combining the beams of several smaller satellites. The large size of the
transmitting and receiving antennas means that the minimum practical power level for an SPS
will necessarily be high; small SPS systems will be possible, but uneconomic.
To give an idea of the scale of the problem, assuming a solar panel mass of 20 kg per kilowatt
4GW power station would weigh about 80,000 metric tons, all of which would, in current
circumstances, be launched from the Earth. Very lightweight designs could likely achieve
1 kg/kW, meaning 4,000 metric tons for the solar panels for the same 4 GW capacity station.
This would be the equivalent of between 40 and 150 heavy-lift launch vehicle (HLLV) launches
to send the material to low earth orbit, where it would likely be converted into subassembly solar
arrays, which then could use high-efficiency ion-engine style rockets to reach GEO . With an
estimated serial launch cost for shuttle-based HLLVs of $500 million to $800 million, and launch
costs for alternative HLLVs at $78 million, total launch costs would range between $11 billion
and $320 billion .To these costs must be added the environmental impact of heavy space launch
emissions, if such costs are to be used in comparison to earth-based energy production. For
comparison, the direct cost of a new coal or nuclear power plant ranges from $3 billion to $6
billion per GW (not including the full cost to the environment from CO2 emissions or storage of
spent nuclear fuel, respectively); another example is the Apollo missions to the Moon cost a
grand total of $24 billion (1970s' dollars), taking inflation into account, would cost $140 billion
today, more expensive than the construction of the International Space Station.
However, in 2013 based on Recent innovations, Electric Space: Space-Based Solar Power
Technologies & Applications suggested a new way to reduce costs by replacing smaller satellites
and in lower Orbits.

CONSTRUCTION

Building from space

From lunar materials launched in orbit
the problem of high launch costs in the early 1970s, proposed building the SPS's in orbit with
materials from the Moon. Launch costs from the Moon are potentially much lower than from
Earth, due to the lower gravity and lack of atmospheric drag. This 1970s proposal assumed the
then-advertised future launch costing of NASA's space shuttle. This approach would require
substantial up front capital investment to establish mass drivers on the Moon. Nevertheless, on
30 April 1979, the Final Report by General Dynamics' Convair Division, under NASA contract
NAS9-15560, concluded that use of lunar resources would be cheaper than Earth-based materials
for a system of as few as thirty Solar Power Satellites of 10GW capacity each.
In 1980, when it became obvious NASA's launch cost estimates for the space shuttle were
grossly optimistic, O'Neill et al. published another route to manufacturing using lunar materials
with much lower startup costs. This 1980s SPS concept relied less on human presence in space
and more on partially self-replicating systems on the lunar surface under remote control of
workers stationed on Earth. The high net energy gain of this proposal derives from the Moon's
much shallower gravitational well.
Having a relatively cheap per pound source of raw materials from space would lessen the
concern for low mass designs and result in a different sort of SPS being built. The low cost per
pound of lunar materials in O'Neill's vision would be supported by using lunar material to
manufacture more facilities in orbit than just solar power satellites. Advanced techniques for
launching from the Moon may reduce the cost of building a solar power satellite from lunar
materials. Some proposed techniques include the lunar mass driver and the lunar space elevator,
first described by Jerome Pearson.It would require establishing silicon mining and solar cell
manufacturing facilities on the Moon.

On the Moon
David Criswell suggests the Moon is the optimum location for solar power
stations, and promotes lunar solar power. The main advantage he
envisions is construction largely from locally available lunar materials, using
in-situ resource utilization, with a teleoperated mobile factory and crane to
assemble the microwave reflectors, and rovers to assemble and pave solar

cells,which would significantly reduce launch costs compared to SBSP

designs. Power relay satellites orbiting around earth and the Moon
A demo project of 1 GW starts at $50 billion.The Shimizu Corporation use combination of lasers
and microwave for the lunar ring concept, along with power relay satellites.

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
With the increasing cost and decreasing supply of conventional energy coupled with the concern
over pollution and climate change, the need arises for clean, renewable alternative forms of
energy. Presently, systems that make use of wind, geothermal, and terrestrial are being developed
for implantation for large scale use. However, each of these systems is limited by geography as
to where they can be implemented. This makes scaling those systems upwards to meet the needs
of a growing world population difficult. For instance, the best places for locating terrestrial solar
power are desserts, which are not typically the most populated places on the globe.
There is an alternative form of energy that could be scaled upward to meet the
demands of Earth's growing population. Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) involves the
collection of solar power from satellites in orbit around Earth and utilizing wireless energy
transfer to beam that energy down to Earth. This concept was first developed in 1968 by Dr.
Peter Glaser (Ledbetter, 2008), who then went on to patent the concept. His initial concept
involved transferring a large amount of power through a square kilometer microwave dish.
SBSP has been examined many times through the last couple of decades.NASA
and the Department of Energy, with the aid of Boeing, collaborated on a study of SBSP in the
late 1970's, however the technological and social conditions of the time made the system
infeasible. More recently, NASA later took a fresh look at SBSP in the late 1990's,and in
2001,The Aerospace Corporation conducted its own study into SBSP, applying modern
technology to concepts of SBSP (Penn & Law, 2001). However, while there has been a lot of
discussion about SBSP, still there has not been a single SBSP watt beamed down from Earth's
orbit. A demonstration of SBSP would be vitally important to furthering its development as
analternative energy source. A demonstration will push the development of the components
necessary to make SBSP and will provide a source of intellectual property from that
development. Space-qualified power transmitters and pointing systems will need to be provided
for a demonstration to run, and safety systems will be needed to assure that the solar power can
beamed from orbit without causing any harm to other spacecraft, air traffic, or people. A SBSP
demonstration will also provide more accurate measurements for atmospheric losses and system
efficiencies. In this way, a demonstration can pave the way for future system development.