A team of researchers from China has proposed a plan for a space solar power (SSP) demonstration mission.
The mission aligns with the first step of the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) SSP development roadmap, which calls for the deployment of a demonstration mission between 2026 and 2030.
“The key idea of the mission is to demonstrate several of the most important technologies by a single limited mission. And these demonstrated technologies are the core technical foundation for subsequent missions,” corresponding author, Xinbin Hou, said to pv magazine. “Because these technologies are disruptive innovations, the most important thing is to demonstrate the validation in space. That will make SSP more feasible in technology.”
SSPs are a potential way to generate green energy, utilizing a spacecraft that collects solar energy and transmits it to Earth, via wireless power transmission (WPT). The microwave power transmission (MPT) technology is at the core of the proposed mission, though it will also test laser power transmission (LPT). Both high-voltage thin-film solar arrays and concentrating solar arrays are also to be tested.
The mission’s solar array consists of a 10 kW ultra-light, thin-film solar array with gallium arsenide (GaAs) solar cells that have an efficiency exceeding 30%. The 35 m2 array includes three sections: a high-voltage array that will generate 1 kW/500 V power for demonstration purposes; a middle voltage solar array generating about 5 kW/100 V electricity to power the MPT and LPT payload system and the platform bus; and pseudo solar array is used to simulate the structural characteristics of the panel. In addition, a concentration solar array with a 2.4 m-diameter aperture is also used, allowing the total solar energy collected to reach 6.18 kW.
Image: China Academy of Space Technology, Space Solar Power and Wireless Transmission, CC BY 4.0
The MPT system includes a microwave transmitter subsystem, a beam steering subsystem, and a receiving subsystem. A 2m x 2m antenna is designed for the demonstration system, with an operating frequency of 5.8 GHz. Approximately 4 kW of microwave power is planned to be transmitted to a receiving subsystem on Earth, traveling a distance of 424–600 km. The receiving subsystem consists of a rectenna, a beam direction measurement system, and a pilot signal transmitter.
On the other hand, the LPT has two demonstrated use cases, one in which energy is transmitted to the ground while in the other it is transmitted to a trailing spacecraft. “The LPT system is composed of a laser subsystem, a laser emitting and beam steering subsystem, and a receiving subsystem. According to the mission objective, the transmitted laser power will be 1 kW, the transmission distance will be 10 km- 50 km in space, and over 400 km to the ground. The 1064 nm optical fiber laser is selected for the mission,” explained the team.
“We will carry on the follow-up research on the subsequent missions, including system design and key technologies R&D. Of course, we also care about how to use these innovative technologies in other areas,” concluded Hou.
The mission proposal was presented in “The high power electricity generation and WPT demonstration mission — Proposed first step to develop space solar power,” published in Space Solar Power and Wireless Transmission. Scientists from the China Academy of Space Technology, China’s Shandong Institute of Aerospace Electronic Technology, Shanghai Institute of Aerospace System Engineering, Xidian University, and Chongqing University have developed the plan.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.