A multidisciplinary team from the California Institute of Technology is a winner of the2024 Gizmodo Science Fairfor testing a planet that try it ’s possible to accumulate solar vigor in blank space and then send it down to Earth as usable power .
Long a staple of science fable authors and futurists , the approximation of rule solar power directly from space has been thwarted by technical and monetary value barriers . The hope is ride : a vast , uninterrupted supply of clean solar vigour , insensible by day - night wheel , seasons , or weather , and potentially offering more power than Earth - based solar gore . Encouragingly , late experimental results point to the feasibleness of the concept — an founding with the potential to dramatically translate how we capture and distribute vigor to Earth .
The question
Is it possible to efficiently and affordably harvest solar power in field , impart it through space , and then down to Earth ? Can distance - based solar power provide a uninterrupted and more reliable energy source than ground - based solar panels , and could quad - based solar power help overcome the limitations of sublunary solar energy , such as atmospheric condition , nighttime , and ground consumption ?
The results
Caltech ’s Space Solar Power Demonstrator-1 ( SSPD-1 ) was a milepost advancement in the ontogenesis of space - ground solar power . Though modest in scope , this trial impression - of - conception experiment could direct to bigger things . Like , staggeringly bigger things .
SSPD-1 launched to space in January 2023 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket salad , integrated within Momentus ’ Vigoride-5 spacecraft . Its missionary station was to hoard solar power in orbit and broadcast it both in space and back to Earth . It also tested deployment mechanisms and innovative unexampled solar technologies . at last , SSPD-1 suffice as a feasibility experiment : Can it gather solar power in blank and beam it , in the form of microwave , down to Earth as useful Energy Department ?
The project had three primary component : DOLCE ( for deploying the structure ) , ALBA ( for reap solar energy ) , and MAPLE ( for wireless power transmission ) . These three constituent were think the basic requisite for be active forward with a larger - scale project .
Conceptual image of SSPD-1.Image: Caltech/SSPP
The DOLCE ( Deployable on - sphere ultraLight Composite Experiment ) featured a 6 - by-6 - foot anatomical structure that unfurled shortly after launch , demonstrating a profound essential for constructing bombastic - shell solar array for magnate collection in place . DOLCE showed that “ you’re able to have something that wraps , unwraps , and deploys in space in simple manner , ” enunciate Ali Hajimiri , an electrical engineer at the California Institute of Technology and one of three PIs on the SSPD-1 development team .
The ALBA component tested the efficiency of different photovoltaic mobile phone in place . This experiment involve 32 types of cells , some of which had never been used in quad . ALBA ’s essential finding was identify the most effective solar cells for space applications . This data will probably prove vital for optimise solar power generation in future labor .
Why they did it
Space - establish solar top executive has been around as a concept for a long clip , with fabled sci - fi generator Isaac Asimov introducing the melodic theme in his 1941 brusk narration “ Reason . ” Experts chew over over the opening for decades , but it remained stuck within the confines of scientific discipline fiction . But the appeal of space - ground solar never faded .
The interior of MAPLE , showing the transmission array at right and the receivers on the left field . Image : SSPP
other conception required massive , heavy structures and extensive in - space manufacturing , which was impractical with launch capacities both then and now . The cost of fabricating these large structures would be prohibitively in high spirits compared to the energy proceeds they would generate , explained Harry Atwater , a labor PI and Caltech stuff engineer .
© Vicky Leta/Gizmodo
Solar jury already power the International Space Station , but for theSpace Solar Power Project(SSPP ) to birth energy to Earth , the research worker needed to develop solar DOE transfer arrangement that were small-scale , ultra - lightweight , price - effectual , and conciliatory for launching and deployment . expert consider the demonstration of wireless magnate transfer in space using lightweight construction a crucial step toward advancing blank space - based solar force for global use of goods and services .
The Caltech team aims to “ realize the vision of space solar power in a scalable and economic fashion , ” said Atwater , and to “ disrupt the component level of the technology by creating extremist - idle , low cost , and elastic components . ”
Why they’re a winner
The breakthrough offered by DOLCE , ALBA , and MAPLE represent a jump frontwards in this field of battle . The squad overcame several challenges during the mission , including glitches during the deployment form , which were n’t easy to resolve give the challenge of working in space .
The squad observe power from MAPLE on the roof of Moore Laboratory . Photo : Caltech / SSPP
“ It was not a pleasure cruise in terms of being able to communicate with the ballistic capsule and getting the data download , ” Hajimiri articulate . “ It took a few months for some of these thing to be worked out . We had , even until the remnant , issues with several different aspects of it . But the major part of the mission was successful because we could find workarounds . ” He sum up : “ If you do n’t have any challenges , problems , or minor failure , you do n’t learn as much . ”
Graphic: Caltech/SSPP
The work done to raise solar cellphone engineering , and the successful demo of wireless power transmission in space , lays the foundation for succeeding improvements in the conception . The energy beamed down to Earth was a token amount , “ but it was enough to just say , ‘ hey , this is working , ’ ” order Atwater .
And there ’s the humanitarian and environmental aspect to consider . Space - based solar power promises an inexhaustible , clean energy germ that could significantly scale down our reliance on fossil fuel .
The proposed system is also dependable . It ’s designed with inherent limitations set by instinctive physics , ensure that the energy send never exceeds a certain brink . consequently , the organization should n’t overheat equipment , step in with electronics , or cause hurt to living being . It also utilise low - powered microwaves for energy transfer , which are in the main heating plant - bring forth and considerably safer than solar radiation , consort to the researchers . The business organisation has to do with humans , animals , and electronic devices that could be affected by mellow - saturation radioactivity ; but the low - powered microwaves are n’t likely to place any damage . Moreover , the organization is equipped with intelligent control condition that can adapt to unforeseen portion , such as obstacles in the energy path .
The interior of MAPLE, showing the transmission array at right and the receivers on the left. Image: SSPP
What’s next
The team is currently reexamine the missionary station ’s outcomes , gather data and insights that could inform a 2nd mission to further refine the concept .
A paradigm antenna plane for the king vector , displaying its flexibility . Photo : Caltech / SSPP
In the hereafter , the Caltech group envisions launch a fleet of modular spacecraft design to harness sunlight , convince it into electrical energy , and afterward transmute it into microwaves . This system , should it work as planned , would be able of directing vim to specific location on Earth using an array of power transmitter work out in concert . The father microwaves would be transmit through the air over vast distances , providing king even to regions without unchanging admittance to electrical energy . Remarkably , the power from this system could be receivable without the need for specialised base on the ground ( the system uses microwave receivers , which can be unproblematic and lightweight , tolerate them to be deploy rapidly and well ) , and could be used to deliver free energy to outside areas or locations grappling with the aftermath of war or raw disasters .
The team detecting power from MAPLE on the roof of Moore Laboratory. Photo: Caltech/SSPP
In the future , large space solar world power station , potentially in geosynchronous scope , could return pregnant sum of powerfulness , according to Atwater . For comparison , a distinctive Earth - based power place , like those using coal or atomic Department of Energy , can produce between 500 megawatts and a gigawatt ceaselessly . place - based stations could serve various needs , pop the question 10 to 50 megawatt for remote or specialised program program , such as military bases or isolated community . However , for integration into the major power storage-battery grid or supply industrial customers , these stations would aim to put up at least a few hundred megawatt .
The team
Left to rightfulness : Sergio Pellegrino , Harry Atwater , and Ali Hajimiri , the chief detective of the Space Solar Power Project . pic : Caltech / SSPP
The three principal investigators on the project are Caltech professorsHarry AtwaterandAli Hajimiri , along withSergio Pellegrino , an expert in aerospace engineering . The Space Solar Power Project land together three multidisciplinary squad of aerospace engineer , physicists , and electrical engineers . The PIs “ had to see new things , but most of the body of work was done by the postdocs , researchers , graduate students , and even some undergraduate students , ” Hajimiri said .
Click here to see all of thewinners of the 2024 Gizmodo Science Fair .
A prototype antenna sheet for the power transmitter, displaying its flexibility. Photo: Caltech/SSPP
Gizmodo Science FairSpace technologyspace - based solar power
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Left to right: Sergio Pellegrino, Harry Atwater, and Ali Hajimiri, the principal investigators of the Space Solar Power Project. Photo: Caltech/SSPP
