Since the beginning, when humans have not had the answers to something, they have found ways to imagine what it could be. From different Gods, to ghosts to some outlandish theories that have been proven to inexplicably be true, the human imagination knows almost no bounds. But when the theories we come up with end up being true, especially when they relate to things as hard to comprehend as space, it is especially rewarding. The last theory to be confirmed as a real possibility is one from Russian, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who, back in the 1920s put forward a theory of making use of space to collect solar power.
The idea of collecting solar energy from beyond Earth and transmitting it back to earth has been floating around for a very long time, but until now it was just a crazy dream attached to a theory that we could not make work, but as technology advances, things that seemed impossible just a few years ago, never mind 100, start to become real possibilities.
Tsiolkovsky theorized that orbiting mirrors could be used to shine sunlight onto the Earth’s surface or that using satellites to direct energy to the Earth with radio waves could also work to accomplish the same goal. Of course at the time, the technology to make any of this happen was in its infancy, and Tsiolkovsky’s idea remained completely conceptual. But times have changed a lot and the impending climate crisis and the increase in the demand for energy have brought this theory to the forefront of those looking for solutions.
Tsiolkovsky’s space theory, could it become reality?
This theory, now named Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) has begun to take a life of its own. The proposal is to put massive solar panels in orbit to enable them to harness sunlight for 24 hours, that too, free from atmospheric interference, and then this energy will be beamed wirelessly back to Earth. This would give us access to constant and clean energy. Since now the idea of space discs that will float around in space, gaining solar energy is just a variation on the concept of solar panels, it sounds a lot more feasible, although there are still challenges to overcome.
The first one is how to deploy these space discs into orbit, the second one is how to convert the energy gathered into a form that can be beamed back to Earth and the third one is how to do it safely without it tuning into death rays.
Some of the ideas that NASA and other international agencies have put forward are to convert the energy into laser-based or microwave beams. The beams would then be directed at the antenna or rectenna located on the ground, where the beams will be reconverted into electricity. Microscopic simulations as well as prototypes have produced hopeful results, but there is still a long way to go to make this a feasible reality.
For now, a satellite-based system has been manufactured by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that allows for efficient power transmission and China has mentioned its own SBSP project, called Omega, that will hopefully deliver approximately two gigawatts of power by 2050.
The idea is for the SBSP to offer a solution to the global energy problem, and thus, countries throughout Asia, Europe, and North America are funding all of the SBSP’s initiatives with the hope that soon energy will be fully decarbonized. However, NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) states a key issue, which is that assembling and keeping of such giant structures in geostationary orbit is not easy and that developing an autonomous system to control these structures and launch them would cost a significant amount of money.