BASE LOAD SPACE SOLAR POWER

A FEASIBLE NEAR-TERM APPROACH TO

AGGRESSIVELY MITIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE
Space Baseload Solar Power for Australia & the World

Amongst Mankins’ many
awards, in 2003 he was the
first recipient of the ‘NASA
exceptional Technology
Achievement Medal’. In 2014
he published ‘The Case for
Space Solar Power’ recognized
as the seminal work on the
subject.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Solar Space Technologies (SST), is a recently-formed
Australian company that is planning the development
and commercialisation of the technology for solar
power generation from outer space in or from Australia,
including the deployment of solar power generation
satellites, ground receiver sites and associated
infrastructure.
SST is planning to develop and deploy the first solar
power satellite (SPS) using these technologies, and
to eventually develop a total capacity of at least 18
gigawatts of electricity for the Australian electricity
market and for the export of energy from Australia to
other countries.
To accomplish this goal, and to do it in less than a
decade, SST proposes the creation of an Australia-
United States of America (USA) SPS commercial-
government partnership, with additional participation by
Japan, Canada, New Zealand and others.
LEADERSHIP
SERDAR
BAYCAN
FOUNDING DIRECTOR
+ 61 408 033 549
sbaycan@spacesolartechnologies.com.au
www.spacesolartechnologies.com.au
JOHN C.
MANKINS
DIRECTOR
+ 1 (703) 625 0424
+ 1 (805) 929 3121
jmankins@spacesolartechnologies.com.au
www.spacesolartechnologies.com.au
SST is led by founder Serdar Baycan of Melbourne
in the state of Victoria, Australia; with the support of
Mr. John C. Mankins of California, USA. Mr. Baycan
is a respected architect, with extensive experience in
formulating, obtaining funding for and implementing
numerous building projects over the past 25-plus
years. Mr. Mankins is widely-recognized as a globally-
known expert in the field of SSP and space technology
management; he wrote the book “The Case for Space
Solar Power”, published in 2014.
SST and MSTI are now reaching out to various
leaders in industry, academia, the financial sector and
Government in Australia, the USA and elsewhere to
build a strong and resilient partnership to accomplish
SPS-Australia Project, and bring a new and important
climate-sustainable energy option forward.
 OVERVIEW
“Low cost, limitless energy
with no carbon emissions for
Australia & the world.”
WHAT IS BEING PROPOSED?
SST, working in partnership with US-based Mankins
Space Technologies, Inc. (MSTI) will build upon the
novel modular space systems concept: “SPS-ALPHA”
(solar powered satellite by means of arbitrarily large
phased array), first-examined under a NASA Innovative
Advanced Concepts (NIAC) project (2011-2012).

The power system architecture comprises five major

elements:
The SPS-ALPHA platform deployed in Earth orbit,
01
where solar power is harvested, transformed
into RF energy in the microwave region and
transmitted safely and precisely to high-efficiency
receiver near a market on Earth;

02
A high-efficiency receiver that converts the
incoming microwave transmission into electricity;

03 A load-levelling energy storage system operating

in conjunction with the receiver;

04 Ground-based missions operations for the

platform;

05 Earth-to-orbit (ETO) transportation services to

deploy the space segment.

Working with an international commercial-

government partnership, SST proposes to
develop, manufacture, deploy and operate SPS-
ALPHA platforms sized to deliver 2.1 GW each
at a levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of 5¢
per kilowatt-hour ($, US) over a 30-year nominal
lifetime.

• Will create many jobs

• Target 5c/kWh

• Produces electricity 99.8% of the time

• Base Load Power

• 5-7 year payback

• No emissions once active

• Scaling only limited by manufacturing capacity &

funding

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 MARKET OPPORTUNITY
“Sustainable, Affordable &
Globally ‘Dispatchable’ 24/7
Baseload Power.”
The Australian market represents an exceptional
opportunity for novel energy solutions, such as space
solar power (SSP).1

The total installed power capacity delivers approximately

30GW, with this power generated by a combination of
fossil fuels (about 80% coal, oil and natural gas) and
renewables (about 20%) including hydro, solar and
wind.2

The average levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is

approximately 10¢-20¢ per kilowatt-hour ($, US), with
selected options delivering electricity at less than 10¢
and others demanding more than 50¢ per kWh (LCOE).3

Figure 2 illustrates the current LCOEs expected from

various energy sources, including SPS-ALPHA at three
different levels of ETO cost.

Moreover, an SPS positioned in a geostationary Earth

orbit (GEO) above western Australia could deliver power
(not simultaneously) to locations where a receiver
had been established comprising more than 50%
of humanity (about 4B individuals) – with combined
economies totalling more than $30T-$40T GDP annually
($, US). Many of these locations (for example Japan)
have current LCOEs equal to or greater than those in
Australia.4 Space solar power should, however, not be
viewed as a singular solution to the challenge of energy.
1
See: https://www.energy.
gov.au/government-
priorities/energy-data/
australian-energy-
statistics.

2
See: https://www.
originenergy.com.au/blog/
electricity-generation-in-
australia/.

3
See: https://www.
csiro.au/en/News/
News-releases/2018/
Annual-update-finds-
renewables-are-cheapest-
new-build-power.

4
See: https://www.
globalpetrolprices.com/
Japan/electricity_ prices/

FIGURE 2: Average Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE)

of SPS Alpha Mk-II compared with various other energy
sources ($US)

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CLIMATE IMPACT
Space solar power delivered by SPS-ALPHA is
expected to be the lowest carbon-emitting source of
baseload power available during the coming decades,
with energy payback – i.e., the recovering of all
energy involved in the manufacture and deployment
of the platforms in space and receivers on Earth
in approximately 1 week. Sized to deliver 2.1 GW
of baseload power, a single SPS-ALPHA would
eliminate more than 250 million tonnes of CO2 during
its targeted lifetime of 30 years or more, as compared
to a typical coal-fired power plant.
In addition, by providing a solar option for baseload
power and due to the capability to reposition the
delivery location as required, SSP can be used in
conjunction with intermittent ground solar (particularly
roof-top solar) – removing the requirement for up to
2/3rds of fossil fuel-based backups to ground solar.
PLAN FORWARD
SST’s plan forward comprises four stages at present:
Phase I: The development and demonstration
of the critical technologies for SPS (see below)
in an integrated systems-level testbed. This
demonstration, involving largely off-the-shelf
technologies is planned to be accomplished within
18-24 months of receipt of funding. Phase I will
require funding of approximately $20M-$40M ($, US).
Phase II: Will be accomplished over an additional 12-
24 months, comprising the development and launch
of an operational SPS-ALPHA prototype to low Earth
orbit (LEO). Here, the project plans to demonstrate
precision delivery of low-levels of power to locations
in both Australia and the USA. Phase II will require
funding of about $120M-$150M ($, US).
Phase III: Will involve the deployment of the first,
full-scale, but moderate-size SPS to deliver space
solar power to a high-value remote market, potentially
involving a remote mining location in Australia. This
first unit is projected to deliver approximately 100MW-
200MW at an initial cost of approximately $5B-$8B
with a lifetime of 30 years (i.e., an LCOE of about
20¢-30¢ per kWh).
Phase IV: which would follow begins the manufacture,
launch, deployment and operation of full-scale SPS
delivering affordable baseload power (up to 2.1 GW)
to various locations in Australia and beyond, at an
estimated LCOE of 10¢-15¢ per kWh for current
ETO launch prices ($1,500-$2,000 per kg), and for
less than 5¢/kWh for projected near-term ETO prices
($500-$600 per kilogram).
CRITICAL TECHNOLOGIES
Like all new energy options, SPS will involve the
successfully integration of various critical technologies
into new systems, and their demonstration of readiness
for use. Fortunately, all of the technologies required
for SPS have been proven at TRL 4-5, including use in
various terrestrial applications during the past decade.
The single specific aspect of the SPS-ALPHA concept
for space solar power is the use of a highly-modular
architectural approach. This characteristic, enabled
by recent advances in robotics in highly-structured
environments makes possible the low-cost per kilogram
mass production of the SPS-ALPHA system – reducing
the expected cost of the platform hardware by a factor of
100 compared to traditional spacecraft.
The key capability of wireless power transmission
(WPT) via microwaves was first demonstrated in the
1960s-1970s by William R. (“Bill”) Brown and Mr.
Richard (“Dick”) Dickinson (of the Raytheon Corporation
and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, respectively).
Moreover, the component technologies for WPT have
evolved significantly during the past 20 years due to
unrelated demand for high-efficiency wireless devices
– such as mobile phones – enabling high-efficiency, all-
electronic WPT today.5
Additional important technologies include low-mass
structural systems, high-efficiency and low-mass
photovoltaic (PV) arrays, wireless networked systems,
and others. All of these have advanced dramatically
in recent years. In the case of structural systems,
the capability for rapid-prototyping through additive
manufacturing (aka, “3D printing”) will be employed
to accomplish the objectives of Phase I and Phase II
(described above) as planned.
Low-cost Earth-to-orbit (ETO) transportation is crucial to
the viability of space solar power (SSP). This is one of
the major transformations that enable SSP to proceed
today. During the past 10 years, ETO transport at costs
of less than $1,500 to $3,000 per kilogram have been
operationally demonstrated by Space Exploration
Technologies, Inc. (SpaceX). Still lower costs (below
$1,000 per kg) are now being pursued by SpaceX, Blue
Origin and other organizations.
4
See: https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/Japan/electricity_ prices/
5
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_power_
transfer#Microwaves_and_lasers.
6
See: https://www.spacex.com/about/capabilities, https://dgit.com/
space-x-falcon-heavy-vs-blue-origin-new-glenn-5690/, https://www.
blueorigin.com/new-glenn/, and https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-
ceo-elon-musk-says-that-bfr-could-cost-less-to-build-than-falcon-9/.
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CONTACT
For additional information regarding this exciting
project, please contact SST at:

sbaycan@spacesolartechnologies.com.au

For information concerning US activities and MSTI,

please contact:

jmankins@spacesolartechnologies.com.au

mankinsspacetech@gmail.com