Energy around the clock without a hectares of soil for sunny or wind farms. New discovery in Japan
Climate change and the need to move away from fossil fuels mean that governments and companies are looking for sources of current operating in the 24/7 system. Panels in space avoid night, clouds and seasonal fluctuations in sunlight. Therefore, they can provide up to eight times more energy from each meter square silicon than a ground installation.
At the same time, a sharp decrease in the cost of carried out loads (mainly thanks to reusable rockets) and flexible, foil photovoltaic panels radically reduced the entry barrier compared to the estimates of the 70s.
But how exactly does it work? The orbit is located folded photovoltaic “sails” that convert sunlight into DC. This current is in the so -called sandwich tiles, converted on microwaves with a frequency of approx. 2.45 GHz. Hundreds of thousands of mini-inventors operate in a precise phase-the phenomenon of interference microwaves means that the waves strengthen at one point and extinguish outside of it. Thanks to this, the beam then goes to the target antenna on the ground. In such an antenna, Schottky's diode reverses the process: the microwaves turn into alternating current synchronized with the network. Simply put, it's like A huge wireless charger that sends electricity from space straight to the “socket” on the ground.
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Japanese breakthrough. The first step to the Ohisama satellite
In May, JSS proved that he can maintain a focused bundle from the platform in motion, which corresponds to the need to “track” the target through a satellite moving at a speed of 28,000 km/h.
The next stage will be the start of the 180 kg Ohisama satellite in 2025, which For several minutes it will send approx. 1 kW of power from 400 km in height – Enough to power the dishwasher, but above all to show a precise orbit beam control.
Further part under video material:
In the United States, Air Force Research laboratory prepares the Arachne (SSPIDR) mission, which in 2025 is to test the segment of the segment of a few meters in a few meters and break the barrier of one square meter of an active conversion module.
ESA, in turn, leads Solaris – until 2025 is to assess profitability and regulations, and in 2030 send a demonstrator handing over hundreds of kilowatts.
In China, the Zhuri complex in Xiana passed in 2022 a full tests of ground microwave track and prepares an orbital 10 kW demonstrator for 2028. In turn, the British start-up Space Solar develops the concept of Cassiopeia, which assumes a commercial gigawat satellite in the 1930s.
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Economics, security and restrictions
NASA analysts assessed in January 2024 that At today's starting rates, the cost of energy from the geostation system would fall from historical $ 1. up to around $ 0.61 in kWh. It is still more than ten times more expensive than the current from land PV farms, but within the reach of many special recipients.
The biggest cost position are the start and orbital installation of the structure megatonwhich is why projects focus on modules placed in space by robots and mass production of segments on Earth.
Safety issues include both the possibility of military bead redirect and the standard of permissible microwave exposure. Planned power densities (approx. 23 MW/cm2 in the center of the beam) are lower than solar energy to the skin (When the stream of sunlight power falls on the human skin, when you stand outside in full sun) and below thermal thresholds, and the systems turn off broadcasting when an unexpected object appears in the beam.
Simultaneously Astronomers follow the risk of huge, reflecting structures in the night sky, which ESA and SEI promise to limit through anti -reflective coatings and orientation control.
Will it pay off for business? For energy companies, SBSP tempts a constant, easy -to -forecast production, which can act like a green peak power plant. The first contracts provide for the supply of electricity after 0.10-0.30 dollars/kwh in the 1930s, when the costs of rockets, robotics and Thin-Film panels will fall by more ranges of size.
The recipients may be data centers, hydrogen refineries or military baseswhere the bonus for uninterrupted delivery is much higher than the average network tariff.
When will we ignite the first “orbit” bulb?
If the schedules persist, in the coming a few years we will see Kilowy from Ohisama and Arachne, by 2030 hundreds of kilowats from the European demonstrator, and around 2035. The first power plant of dozens of megawats built in modular mode.
Gigawat stations, able to handle a medium -sized city, are real in the mid -1940s, if today's cost and regulatory trends are maintained.
What is worth knowing now is the fact that the energy transmission technology from space has just left the laboratory phase and enters the validation stage of the business model. Whoever invests in a supply chain today – from structural composites to high power electronics – can gain an advantage before the era in which sunny farms will orbit over our heads as naturally as constellations of communication satellites today.
Author: Grzegorz Kubera, Business Insider Polska journalist
