Chethana Janith, Jadetimes Staff
C. Janith is a Jadetimes news reporter and sub-editor covering science and geopolitics.
China has unveiled plans to construct a gigantic solar power space station, which will be launched into orbit piece by piece using the nation’s new heavy-lift rockets. According to a report by Live Science, Chinese scientists have proposed building a colossal solar power station in space that spans one kilometer (0.6 miles) in width and will beam continuous energy back to Earth via microwaves. Positioned above the Earth, it will be ten times more efficient at converting sunlight into electrical energy compared to land-based solar panels. Additionally, it will capture sunlight every second of every day, eliminating the intermittency problem that plagues solar power today.
The project, which will see its components placed into geostationary orbit above Earth, has been dubbed “another Three Gorges Dam project above the Earth.” The Three Gorges Dam, located in the middle of the Yangtze River in central China, is the world’s largest hydropower installation and generates 100 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year. According to one NASA scientist, the dam is so large that, if completely filled, the mass of the water contained within would lengthen Earth’s days by 0.06 microseconds.
Lead scientist Long Lehao, the chief designer of China’s Long March rockets, stated that the new project would be “as significant as moving the Three Gorges Dam to a geostationary orbit 36,000 km (22,370 miles) above the Earth.” During a lecture in October hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), as reported by the South China Morning Post, he said, “This is an incredible project to look forward to. The energy collected in one year would be equivalent to the total amount of oil that can be extracted from the Earth.”
China Faces Space-Based Solar Hurdles
Despite recent advances in the cost and efficiency of space-based solar power, the technology still faces fundamental limitations that make it challenging to transmit all that valuable solar energy to the ground. Moisture in the atmosphere and clouds will absorb much of the microwave energy before it arrives at receiving stations on the ground.
Assembling a solar farm in space would require numerous launches using rockets capable of lifting heavy loads. To overcome this challenge, Long and his team are working on developing the Long March-9 (CZ-9) reusable heavy-lift rocket, which will have a lift capacity of at least 150 tons (136 metric tons). Besides being used for satellites, the rocket will also be key to China’s plans to reach the moon, where it aims to build an international lunar research base by 2035.
Others Are Interested In The Technology
China is not the only nation making plans for solar satellite arrays. Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are exploring the idea in the US, while the European Space Agency and Japan’s JAXA space agency have also been investigating the technology. JAXA has scheduled the launch of a small proof-of-concept satellite later this year to assess the feasibility of the technology.
The idea has been around for quite a while. Sixteen years ago, PG&E in northern California showed interest. Five years ago, the Naval Research Laboratory also explored the concept. More recently, the UK Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy commissioned a study by Frazer-Nash Consultancy, released in September 2021. Entitled "Space Based Solar Power - De-Risking the Pathway to Net Zero," the study identified the following drivers for renewed interest in the technology:
A new political will exists now as countries seek diverse technologies to decarbonize their economies and achieve net zero by 2050.
The costs of commercial space launches have dropped dramatically as private companies enter the market.
New highly modular solid-state solar-power satellite designs such as SPS-Alpha and CASSIOPeiA have been conceived for high-volume commercial manufacture, lowering costs.
Technologies required to make SBSP a reality have matured. These include high-concentration solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, wireless power transmission, and space robotics.
Countries view their ability to provide unlimited affordable energy from space to any point on the planet as a way to leverage global influence, evidenced by the fact that not only Britain and Europe have recently renewed their interest but also the US, China, Japan, and South Korea.
The study found the levelized cost of energy from space-based solar power would be lower than most conventional thermal generation sources and only slightly higher than traditional solar and wind power.
The Frazer-Nash study noted that “a $180 million defense research program led by Northrop Grumman and the US Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) to develop and demonstrate technology including lightweight sandwich panel PV/RF modules, and lightweight extendable mirrors, under the SSPIDR (Space Solar-Power Incremental Development and Research) Project,” is underway. The US Naval Research Lab has also conducted power collection and conversion experiments in space using the X-37B space plane. NASA has commissioned its own study.
The UK has declared that two SBSP systems have demonstrated that beaming energy from space is technically possible. The SPS-Alpha, designed by Mankins Space Technology in the US, is one such system. The other is the CASSIOPeiA (constant aperture, solid-state, integrated, orbital phased array) developed by International Electric Company in the UK. Both are modular, solid-state designs that can be mass manufactured.
Space-Based Solar For All
The advantages of space-based solar are clear. Constant power all day, every day, is a very appealing idea. Yet, as with most good ideas, the difference between theory and reality can be difficult to resolve. Not only is the amount of material that needs to be lifted into space enormous, but transmitting that energy back to Earth is also fraught with numerous challenges, not the least of which is ensuring the transfer is efficient enough to minimize energy loss.
Then there are political issues to resolve. Is China planning to share all that renewable energy with the rest of the world? If so, at what cost? Who will be responsible for keeping the giant solar installation in the sky safe from attacks by nefarious actors? Holding a power station ransom that supplies a significant portion of the energy needed to keep the global economy running might appeal to some nations or international terrorist organizations. Last but certainly not least is the question of how to focus the downlink to Earth in such a way that people and animals nearby don’t accidentally get harmed by all that microwave energy pouring down from above.
Ideally, the nations of the world would collaborate to build such space-based solar installations and share the energy equitably among all inhabitants of the Earth. If the global community did that and pursued strategies to cool the Earth by a degree or two, we could all live in peace and harmony for thousands of generations and would not have to fly off to Mars to preserve our species. That’s a lovely dream, but it sounds a lot like the cover of a Popular Science magazine from the 1950s - full of promises but short on practicality. Still, the contrast between what China is doing to promote solar power and the “Drill, Baby, Drill” mentality that has the US in its grip is startling. One is focused on the future; the other is looking to the past. Only one of those visions is sustainable.
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