For the most part, satellite connectivity means ensuring that people around the world have access to telecommunications, data and the Internet. Connection in this way is a noble objective, and innovators find new approaches to connect the poorest and most distant regions of the world through low -cost satellites in high orbits.
In recent years, however, a new group of innovators has emerged. They have a different connectivity goal: to connect everything, everywhere, to energy. They re -examine the old idea of solar energy based on space (SBSP) to see if new technologies and approaches can perform the elusive promise to bring the basic power to any place of the earth, the night or the day. If that succeeds, their impact could be revolutionary.
While SBSP has been considered for decades considered as technologically impractical and too expensive to continue, this generation of space entrepreneurs, with new technologies and new commercial models, rethinks SBSP from zero. By focusing on feasibility, they aim to show significant results, space, in just a few years. To ensure American leadership in this new field, the Congress and Trump administration should rationalize regulations, create means for agencies to buy SBSP as merchandise and support continuous research and development that complement what these new businesses do.
A history of spatial solar energy
Isaac Asimov first suggested SBSP in a short story in 1941. Peter Glaser described the concept officially in a scientific article in 1968. In the 1970s, Glaser and others studied power transmission methods using microwaves, but they required structures of the kilometer in space and much larger receptors on earth. The launch costs of these colossal structures were prohibitive. In his 1977 book “The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space”, Gerard O’Neill proposed to build the structures using lunar materials launched in orbit. In the 1990s, David Criswell proposed to be built on the lunar surface itself. None of the two concepts proved to be possible. NASA and the Ministry of Energy examined the SBSP from the late 1970s in the mid-1990s, concluding that the underlying technology deserved exploration but was not ripe for development.
Today’s commercial space era is characterized by new radical technologies. For example, up to a few years ago, reusable rockets were considered an impossible dream dream. Now, the reusable rockets are common. The progress of materials and computer science have helped to make this possible, but the same goes for new ways to think about the problem. The first wave of commercial space entrepreneurs addressed not only technology but also space economy.
The transmission of microwave power was an interesting concept, but it turned out to be completely impracticable over the decades. The new cohort of SBSP companies tries different approaches, such as the use of infrared lasers or the sunlight concentrated to bring power to solar panels. Based on their previous experience, whether in space or in other areas, they are looking for familiar paths to success. This includes the start of a minimum viable product.
For microwave systems, the minimum viable product requires a huge antenna to build in space. No smaller version can be built and deployed because it simply will not work on a lower scale. Thus, SBSP entrepreneurs have turned to other technologies that can be tested at a lower cost and effectively.
An example is Aetherflux’s plan to carry out a test of concept proof involving a single relatively small satellite in low terrestrial orbit and a single receiver on the ground or in space, finally leading to a constellation of satellites radiating power via an infrared laser. These technologies can create other problems that microwave systems would avoid, but none of these problems is as insurmountable as they have to build a space antenna at the kilometer scale just to test a product.
SBSP entrepreneurs possibly hope to be able to compete with land power on the price. It will take years before you can do it everywhere, but it will not take as much time so that they effectively compete in areas that are difficult to reach, will have lost infrastructure due to a disaster or in combat areas. In these cases, SBSP could quickly become the best option.
The continuation of spatial solar energy is worth it
In 2011, the US military estimated that its fuel cost entirely overwhelmed in Afghanistan was as high as $ 400 per gallon and that one of the 24 convoys on the ground underwent a victim. While soldiers become more dependent on electricity for IT, communications and detection, the importance of a regular diet increasing electrical energy. Containerized or portable solar panels for soldiers receiving safe but powerful energy bundles of space could provide a profitable much lower risk solution. An additional advantage: all advanced technology will be in space. The solar panels on the ground could be purchased in a renovation store, and it would be a loss without consequences if they fell into the hands of the enemy.
Chinese President Xi Jinping did not hide his interest in “meeting” with Taiwan in the next two years. To succeed, he must prevent the US military from operating near Taiwan for a few weeks. The disruption of the capacity to project power through the Pacific means preventing the United States from moving troops and the material from the striking distance. This means cutting the supply chains and forcing the US military to recreate the costly and time -consuming drying strategy of the Second World War.
Espace -based solar energy is part of the solution. It will allow forces to simply deploy the solar panels and will immediately start to receive an electrical power of the space. The SBSP could also be used to provide electrical energy to sea ships, long-term flattering planes in flight and secret platforms. SBSP can also help bring electricity back to disasters where the electricity network has been destroyed.
Meanwhile, other societies focus on solar energy from space to space, which could transmit energy to eagerly powerful spacecrafts, which perhaps allows them to better use smaller solar panels, which makes it possible to release more capacity for useful loads. While companies like Aetherflux continue spatial solar energy on land, other companies like Star Catcher focus on solar energy from space to space, approaching one of the main constraints on the performance of a satellite: the ability to produce electricity. This is particularly true for satellites with useful loads eager for power such as synthetic opening radars, which frequently have service cycles less than 35% to allow sufficient time for the load. To solve this problem, satellites can be launched with more solar panels, which is expensive and the crowd on the payload. SBSP provides an alternative: direct more energy to the solar satellite panels using a beam from a nearby energy collection satellite – a process that generates much more energy by square panel, allowing satellites to transport less.
Other companies consider SBSP as a possible way to maintain operations on the Moon during the two -week lunar night. A regular energy beam from the orbit could maintain moor, Rovers and habitats even when the temperature drops below -200 degrees Fahrenheit. China is already continuing this idea, exploring means to use lasers to feed its lunar missions, including its research station Lunar International Crewed.
Innovative American companies have put the United States at the top of SBSP. The Trump Congress and Administration can help extend this head by providing clear regulatory routes, such as making the Office of Space Commerce in the Commerce Department a one -stop shop for the approval of orbit activity. The Ministry of Defense, NASA and other agencies can announce SBSP purchase plans as a commodity. And research focused on the development of field systems should continue, in collaboration with private sector partners. Finally, President Trump is expected to incorporate technology into his “coating” approach to American energy. After all, it is difficult to get more “above” than solar energy based on space.
Paul Stimers is a lawyer for the law firm Holland & Knight, where he directs the practice of space policy, and put pressure on some of the companies in this sector, including Aetherflux. His opinions are his and not necessarily those of Holland & Knight or his customers.
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This article appeared for the first time in the April 2025 issue of SpaceNews magazine.
