The idea of solar energy being transmitted from space is not new. In 1968, a NASA engineer named Peter Glaser produced the first design concept for a solar-powered satellite.
But only now, 55 years later, it seems that scientists have, in fact, achieved a successful experiment.
A team of Caltech researchers recently announced that the spaceborne prototype, called the Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1), collected sunlight, converted it into electricity, and transmitted it to microwave receivers installed on a roof of the Caltech campus in Pasadena.
The scientists’ installation is expensive, but it works
The experiment also proves that the facility, which was launched on January 3, is capable of surviving the journey into space.
“As far as we know, no one has ever demonstrated wireless power transfer in space, even with expensive rigid structures. We do it with lightweight, flexible structures and our own integrated circuits. This is a first,” said Ali Hajimiri, professor of electrical engineering, medical engineering and co-director of the Space Solar Power Project (SSPP) at Caltech, in a press release.
The experiment, known as the Microwave Array for Power-transfer Low-orbit Experiment (or MAPLE for short) is one of three research projects underway aboard SSPD-1. The effort involved two separate receiver arrays and lightweight microwave transmitters with custom chips, Caltech reports.
In the press release, the research team added that in terms of the transmission configuration, it was designed to minimize the amount of fuel needed to be sent into space, and that the design also needed to be flexible enough for the transmitters to can be folded on a racket.
Solar power from space has long been a taboo subject in the scientific community. Although expensive in its current form, the technology promises potentially unlimited renewable energies, with solar panels in space capable of collecting sunlight regardless of the time of day.
