Energy as hope
In summary, the NRC panel members noted that for any SSP program to churn out commercially competitive terrestrial electric power, breakthrough technologies are required.
That being said, even if the ultimate goal of supplying competitive energy is not attained, the experts added: "…the technology investments proposed will have many collateral benefits for nearer-term, less-cost-sensitive space applications and for non-space use of technology advances."
Hubert Davis, a committee member on the NRC study, sees SSP as perhaps the right technology for today. Throughout the 1970s, he managed future programs for the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and is now an independent aerospace consultant.
"In looking at our current world situation, I believe that what is most needed is hope. Power from space may be one of the best means for us to offer that hope," Davis told SPACE.com.
Davis said that an exploratory research, development and demonstration program for power from space is needed. It would be accompanied by a major international aid effort using terrestrial photovoltaics. In areas where no power exists, village "life support systems" can be established to provide potable water, lights, modern communications, refrigeration, information, and perhaps a few sewing machines, he said.
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| Harvesting energy from space. This recent solar power satellite design features sets of lightweight, inflatable fresnel reflectors. These devices focus the Sun's energy on small arrays of high-efficiency photovoltaic cells. Credit: NASA artwork by Pat Rawlings/SAIC
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| Initial conceptual looks at building power beaming satellites blueprinted a mega-engineering project as shown in this Boeing design. New technologies point to more efficient, less expensive space solar power systems. Credit: Boeing/Space Studies Institute
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| Early and simple schematic of how a space solar power satellite would beam energy to electrical power grid on Earth.
Credit: Space Studies Institute
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| Laser power stations, perhaps drawing energy from the local environment, might one day propel spacecraft throughout the solar system. Credit: NASA/Pat Rawlings
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"These complementary steps may buy us the time we need to fulfill this new hope…for everyone," Davis said.
In-orbit power plug
Following on the heels of the NRC's new look at SSP is an assessment completed by Resources for the Future (RFF) a Washington-based group that studies energy and environmental policy. It focuses on off-planet uses of an in-orbit "power plug", or as some label it, a "solar array on steroids." The idea is to have a filler-up facility for electrically hungry satellites, observatories, space platforms and the like.
That study is titled: An Economic Assessment of Space Solar Power as a Source of Electricity for Space-Based Activities. RFF's Molly Macauley and James Davis of The Aerospace Corporation authored the piece.
They observe that customers of a future SSP station could be many. Commercial telecommunications and remote sensing spacecraft, governmental research and defense satellites, space manufacturing facilities, as well as space travel and tourism industries could draw energy from such a station. There is a potentially large market that might benefit from this pay for power approach.
Another attractiveness of a space-based power station is leaving heavy solar panels back on Earth. Less massive spacecraft would be cheaper to orbit. That also means more science gear could be crammed onboard a satellite.
"Our study argues that we could do testing and demonstrations of in-space power sooner than for terrestrial power," Macauley told SPACE.com. The researcher was also a member of the NRC study on SSP.
Show me the energy
Macauley and Davis surveyed satellite designers and operators, gleaning insight about the value of having an SSP "power depot" in space. Whisking watts of power through space to run commercial geostationary satellites looks like a very lucrative and large market, they report.
On the other hand, while the willingness of potential customers to adopt a new power technology like SSP is promising, flight testing the idea would help boost adoption of the in-space energy idea. Early on, supplying power from an SSP could gain greater acceptance as a supplement, rather than a substitute for, an existing power system on a spacecraft, Macauley and Davis note.
Macauley said that in future years the space-based power market could be really big in dollar terms. Still to be determined is where to place an SSP, or whether or not there's need for a constellation of SSP satellites.
"Given our estimate of the market, can SSP designers create an SSP that's financially attractive? We also realize that other technological innovation in spacecraft power is proceeding apace with SSP," Macauley said. "So SSP advocates need to 'look over their shoulders' to stay ahead of those innovations and to capitalize on those that are complementary with SSP," she said.
"The ownership and financing of SSP may be handled as a commercial venture," Macauley and Davis report, "perhaps in partnership with government during initial operation but then becoming a commercial wholesale cooperative."
Once an SSP is fully deployed, the private sector is likely to be a far more efficient operator of the power plug in space, the researchers said.
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