Is space-based solar power an expensive, dangerous dream? Or is this a viable solution to fighting alternatively? Despite the fact that transmitting solar energy from space to Earth could ultimately involve the transmission of gigawatts, this method could be surprisingly covered and cost-effective, according to professionals at Dimension Sun, the EU Dimension company and Glasgow College. Could. ,
However, if we want to make this possible we are looking at the need to go far beyond performance hardware and solve many engineering challenging situations.
Designing space-based photo voltaic
The solar energy emanating from the area does not go unused; Since the sixties, telecommunications satellites have been sending microwave alerts generated from solar energy back to Earth. However sending talent in useful quantities is a different topic altogether.
“This idea has been around for more than a century,” said Nicole Caplin, ESA’s Deep Field Exploration scientist, on the Physics International Podcast. “The basic concepts were really science-fiction. It’s kind of rooted in science fiction, but since then, interest has come and gone.
Researchers are creating more than one design for space-based solar power. Matteo Ceriotti, senior instructor in Area Methods Engineering at Glasgow College, wrote in The Dialogue that several designs were proposed.
The solaris initiative is exploring two potential technologies, according to sanjay vijendran, who manages the solaris initiative at ESA: one that would beam microwaves from a station in geostationary orbit to a receiver on earth and another that would When it comes to the use of large mirrors in low orbit to reflect sunlight, I’m sick on solar power farms. He mentioned that he thinks any of these answers probably qualify. The microwave era has generated widespread interest and was the main focus of those interviews. This is very likely, even though high-frequency radio waves can also be attenuated.
“You actually have a 24/7 source of clean energy from space,” Wijendran said. This capability will also be transmitted without reference to climatic conditions depending on the frequency of the microwave.
“A 1 gigawatt power plant in space would be equivalent to the top five solar farms on Earth. A power plant with a capacity of 1 gigawatt could power about 875,000 homes for a year,” said Andrew Gloster, host of the Physics International podcast.
However, we are no longer in a position to deploy the rest in this manner. “This will be a huge engineering challenge,” Caplin said. There are many physical obstacles to effectively developing a solar power station in the area.
According to a Nature article by senior journalist Elizabeth Gibney, using microwave technology, an orbiting capacity station generating one gigawatt of capacity would require the size of the solar system to be more than 1 square kilometre. “It’s more than 100 times the size of the International Space Station, which took a decade to build.” It will also require regular assembly, as the orbiting feature can be removed.
Solar cells have to be resilient to field radiation and particles. They would also like to be environmentally friendly and lightweight, with a power-to-weight ratio 50 times that of conventional silicon solar cells, Gibney wrote. Maintaining the cost of the cells I’m sick with is another issue that engineers must consider. Reducing the deficit through talent transfer is another problem, Gibney wrote. According to ESA, power conversion charges should be increased by ten-15 percent. This will require technological progress.
Dimension Sun is working on a satellite design called CASSIOPeiA, which Physics International describes as “looking like a spiral staircase, with photovoltaic panel ‘treads’ and microwave transmitters—rod-shaped dipoles—as ‘risers.'” It has a helical state with no moving parts.
“Our system consists of hundreds of thousands of single dinner-plate-sized power modules. Each module contains PV that converts the sun’s energy into DC electricity,” said Sam Edelen, CEO of Dimension Sun.
“That DC power then drives the electronics to transmit the power… from the dipole antenna toward Earth. In space it is converted to power (microwaves) and beamed down to Earth as a coherent beam, where it is received by a rectifier antenna, converted to electricity, and input into the grid. Is.
Edelen said robotics technologies for space programs, such as meeting in orbit, are suddenly advancing.
Ceriotti wrote that SPS-Alpha, like any other design, consists of a giant solar-collector structure consisting of multiple heliostats, which can be modular small reflectors that can be moved individually. They focus daylight onto a module generating free electricity, then beam it back to Earth through another module.