SPACE BASED SOLAR 1
POWER
Name- Rishi Uniyal
College I.D- 160349
CONTENTS 2
• Introduction
• Basic Concept
• History
• Requirements
• Design
• Operation
• Comparison
• Challenges
• Advantages
• Disadvantages
• Conclusion
• References
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INTRODUCTION
Solar power captured on the earth is familiar to all. However, an alternative way is to
capture it in space and convey it to the earth by wireless means.
Space-based solar power (SBSP) is the concept of collecting solar power in space
(using a solar power satellite ) for use on Earth.
It has been in research since the early 1970s.
INTRODUCTION 4
Source Clean Safe Reliable
Fossil Fuel No Yes Decades
Remaining
Nuclear No Yes Fuel Limited
Wind Power Yes Yes Not Steady
Ground Solar Yes Yes Not Steady
Hydro Yes Yes Drought
Bio-Fuels Yes Yes Limited Quantity
Space Solar Yes Yes Yes
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HOW IT WOULD DIFFER
• SBSP would differ from current solar collection methods in that the means
used to collect energy would reside on an orbiting satellite instead of on
Earth's surface.
• Higher collection rate and a longer collection period due to the lack of a
diffusing atmosphere and nighttime in space
Solar Intensity
No Night Min Weather
1,366 W/m2
Space Solar
Solar Intensity
1,000 W/m2
Night Loss Weather Loss
Ground Solar
BASIC CONCEPT
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• Part of the solar energy is lost on its way through the atmosphere by the
effects of reflection and absorption.
• Space-based solar power systems convert sunlight to microwaves or Laser
beam outside the atmosphere, avoiding these losses.
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REQUIREMENTS FOR SPACE SOLAR
POWER
• Low-cost, environmentally-friendly launch vehicles.
• Large scale in-orbit construction and operations: To gather massive
quantities of energy, solar power satellites must be large.
• Power transmission: To transmit power from satellites to the Earth’s surface
with minimal environmental impact.
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DESIGN
Space-based solar power essentially consists of three elements:
• a means of collecting solar power in space, for example via solar
concentrators, solar cells or a heat engine.
• a means of transmitting power to earth, for example via microwave or laser.
• a means of receiving power on earth, for example via a microwave antenna
(rectenna).
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SOLAR SATELLITE
• Large arrays of photovoltaic cells mounted on a satellite.
• Sunlight will be captured and converted into electricity by photovoltaic cells.
• Solar panel will remain in sunlight 24 hours a day, producing a constant
source of base load power.
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RECTENNA
• A rectenna is a rectifying antenna- a special type of antenna that is used to
convert electromagnetic energy into direct current(DC) electricity.
• Used in wireless power transmission.
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RECTENNA
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OPERATION
• Stage 1- Solar Panel
• Sunlight gets captured by the solar panels and converted to electricity by
photovoltaic cells.
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OPERATION
• Stage 2- Energy Transmission
• The sunlight captured is converted to either microwaves or laser beam and
then transmitted to earth.
• Even accounting for the transmission losses, each satellite is able to deliver a large
quantity of power.
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OPERATION
• Stage 3- Energy Receiving and Distribution
• Energy is received on the earth by large, easy-to-assemble grids called
Rectenna.
• The energy is, then, delivered to the consumers.
• Rectennas would likely be several kilometers across.
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COMPARISON
Microwave Power Laser Beam Power
Transmission Transmission
• More Developed. • Recently developed solid state
• High efficiency up to 85%. lasers.
• Beams is far below the lethal levels • Efficiency up to 20%.
of concentration even for a • Can cause minor damages to eye
prolonged exposure. and skin.
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MICROWAVE POWER TRANSMISSION
LASER BEAM POWER TRANSMISSION 19
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CHALLENGES
The most significant technical challenges are the development of
• Low-cost re-usable space access
• Dealing with launch costs
• Efficient and light space-qualified solar arrays
• Space Assembly, Maintenance and Servicing, and
• Large in-space structures
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ADVANTAGES
• Renewable energy source
• Space based solar power can be collected 24 hours per day as there is no
night time in space.
• Space based solar power collection is not affected by weather or by the
earth’s atmosphere, which can act as a filter, reducing the strength of the
solar energy.
• There would be less burning of fossil fuels, less greenhouse gases and
eventually less global warming.
DISADVANTAGES
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• Large cost of launching a satellite into space.
• Solar panels in space suffer about 8 times the degradation they would on
earth.
• Space debris, asteroids are major hazard to solar panels in space.
• Large size and cost of receiving station on ground.
• Energy losses during several phases of conversion from photon to electron to
photon back to electron.
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CONCLUSION
The solar energy available in space is literally billions of times greater than
we use today. Space solar power is by far the largest potential energy
source available, dwarfing all others combined.
This technology on a larger scale, combined with already demonstrated
wireless power transmission can supply nearly all the electrical needs of our
planet.
Space solar power can completely solve our energy problems long term.
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REFERENCES
• http://www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/
• http://martianchronicles.wordpress.com/2010/06/20/our-burning-need-for-
energ/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space-
based_solar_power#Microwave_power_transmission
• http://spacesolarpower.files.wordpress.com
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THANK YOU.
