Space Solar

I wrote a few months back about the potential for space solar power, but it’s back in the news again, this time in a more concrete way. Space Energy Inc. seems to think that they will have a commercially viable technology within a decade; and the financing for an orbiting proof of concept lined up by the end of Q1 2009. This seems very ambitious, especially since they forecast that the trials will take two to three years, and another three to four will be needed in order to build an actual collector satellite.

None the less I think there is huge potential here. The sun shines in space 24 hours a day. By placing our energy capture systems in space, we eliminate the need to cover land which could be used for other purposes. There is no energy loss due to the atmosphere, allowing more energy to be captured per unit area. The positives are striking if you can get past the high capital costs associated with a project of this nature. In the end however, I think we are looking at energy costs which will spike so much in the medium term that projects like this will increasingly look financially viable. As the article mentions, the technological spinoffs are also likely to be immense. I’m thinking here even of the obvious things like space elevators, or more research into wireless power transfers. Both of those things could revolutionize huge swathes of our economies.

I only have one lingering concern. It has been demonstrated over the last two years that at least two countries have the capability to easily shoot down satellites in orbit. I assume that Russia also possesses this capability as well. If the costs of launching these satellites come down to a level where this type of power is viable, it is likely that even more countries will then possess the ability to shoot down satellites. This is bad enough when it is only out communications and intelligence which could be crippled by such an attack, but it is quite another if our energy supply could be crippled as well. In the end it seems as if there will need to be substantial governmental investments in security for these systems if they will ever come to be relied on as a major source of power.

One last thought…if in fact, these satellites are able to collect and transfer massive amounts of energy from space to the earth, what is the potential for them being dual use? Is it easy to turn a power transfer microwave into a space based microwave weapon?