Aerospace Engineering Commons^™

Space Solar Rectifying Antenna On Earth, Corey Bergsrud, Timothy Dito, Matthew Anderson, Matthew Clausing, Chase Freidig

Online Journal of Space Communication

The realization of solar power from space is becoming increasingly closer as a solution to solving the continued growth in energy demand. Space based solar power is also being perceived as an alternative solution for non-renewable energy resources. Future solar power satellites will be positioned in orbit around the Earth where they will collect solar radiation. That radiation will be transformed into a microwave energy beam that is targeted to a receiving rectifying antenna or “rectenna” located on Earth’s surface. The received microwave energy will be converted into direct current electricity.

This presentation focuses on the microwave patch antennas used …

From Uranium Enrichment To Renewable Energy, Harold Bon, Solomon Brown, Michael Cisneros, Kent Engel, Tyler Goldberg, Matt Kissel, Alexa Krivoniak, Brandon Lutz, Zach Reese, Amanda Roberts, Colin Stonerook, Zoe Zeszut, Anthony Zoccola

Online Journal of Space Communication

The goal of this Science/Engineering visualization is to show how gigawatt quantities of renewable energy can be generated at former nuclear processing sites as they are repurposed into industrial scale electrical power generation stations. The breakthrough product of this research is the design of an integrated terrestrial solar/space energy receiving station that will produce “baseload” electricity 24 hours a day.

This research focuses attention on a Cold War-era uranium enrichment facility located on 3,700 acres of land in a rural area of SE Ohio. This site is judged to be suitable for research leading to the first-ever combination ground-based and …

Space Solar Power With Sunsynchronous Orbits, Michael Blohm, Alan Guy, Kyle Perkins, Adam Roades, Samantha Williams

Online Journal of Space Communication

The basic problem being addressed here is the high initial cost of solar power satellite (SPS) systems. The cost is higher for GEO orbits because of the large solar array and transmitter sizes required from that distance, and the expense of lifting such a mass into the higher orbits. Aperture size is proportional to the distance the power is beamed; thus transmitter apertures can be smaller when nearer to Earth.

Decreasing the distance energy must be beamed through space means that the powersat need not be so large, or as expensive. Implementation of sunsynchronous sunsats will likely be a more …

Solar Sails: Towards An Early Profitable Powersat, Jake Coggiano, John Dees, Ryan Heitkemper, Lauren Valko

Online Journal of Space Communication

Successful development of space solar power would provide vast quantities of clean electrical energy for the next few billion years. Such a prize is worth considerable effort and risk. However, the technical difficulties and the huge scale of proposed systems, requiring enormous up front costs and long development times, have prevented SSP from making much progress.

If a way could be found to field a small SSP system profitably, even if limited to niche markets, operational progress could be made with relatively small investments over short time scales. This visualization explores the concept of a “thin-film heliogyro” – a solar …

Millimeter Wave Space Power Grid, Brendan Dessanti, Nicholas Picon, Carlos Rios, Shaan Shah

Online Journal of Space Communication

The Space Power Grid (SPG) architecture illustrated in this visualization represents an evolutionary approach to realizing the global dream of Space Solar Power (SSP). The Georgia Tech approach to SPG concentrates on helping terrestrial power plants become viable, aligning with public policy priorities. It enables a real-time power exchange through space to help locate new plants at ideal but remote sites, smooth supply fluctuations, reach high-valued markets, and achieve baseload status. Over time, this approach will enable other architectures and applications of space solar power.

Advisor: Dr. Narayanan Komerath, Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology; Atlanta, …

Space Solar Power For Agriculture, Max Alvarez, Alex Wiseman, Alex Welsh, Rashmi Sharma, Adedayo Ogundimu, Brian Woods

Online Journal of Space Communication

As the global population increases, it's becoming more important for nations to be able to feed themselves. Unfortunately, while some developing nations may be able to produce large amounts of fruits and vegetables, they may lack access to facilities for food preservation. This problem is at the heart of food security issues across Asia and Africa. Working in consultation with Peter Garretson, an International Affairs Fellow in India, our Ohio University student team has designed a space-based solar power solution that addresses this need, with the potential to provide many secondary benefits. While our project targets the Indian subcontinent and …

Space Solar Power For Seawater Desalination, Michael Blohm, Kristen Ohlemeier, Kyle Perkins, Adam Roades, Matthew Wulker

Online Journal of Space Communication

Seawater desalination has existed for decades as a proven technology for supplying water in coastal areas; however, desalination processes are energy intensive and this has reduced their widespread use. It is noted that California offshore oil and gas platforms already use seawater desalination to produce fresh water for platform personnel and equipment.

This visualization draws on the proposal that, as California coastal oil and gas platforms come to the end of their productive lives, they be re-commissioned for use as large-scale fresh water production facilities. Solar arrays, mounted on off-shore platforms, are able to provide some of the power needed …

Space Solar Power For Disaster Relief, Kristin Brumley, Huyen Nguyen, Erik Alexeff, Nadiah Mukhiar, Dyah Hening, Steve Buchanan

Online Journal of Space Communication

Solar Powered satellites will have a future as an aid in disaster relief. These new satellites will not only be useful in gathering sun’s energy from space and transmitting it to Earth as electrical power, it can be expected that they will also be used in restoring communication and providing remote sensing as well as illumination.

The recovery from disaster events is a timely stand-by service needed by all societies. In a collaborative effort of spacefaring nations and their partners, the launch of constellations of satellites that circle the globe will make rescue team response to saving lives quicker and …

Multi-Nation Wpt Demonstration Experiments, Max Alvarez, Harold Bon, Jason Butler, Jimmy Clark, Kent Engle, Ben Felix, Tyler Goldberg, Colin Mercer, Shelby Roades, Zoe Seszut, Michael Stephens, Jiexiong Zhang, Anthony Zoccola, Chinar Patel, Ben Leon, Scott Bennet, Roger Lascorz, Oscar Pierre, Somil Shah, Rahim Panjawani, Nicole Dowling, Natasha Barbely

Online Journal of Space Communication

A project originating with Georgia Institute of Technology is described in which the International Space Station (ISS) serves as an experimental platform for the relay of energy from space to earth. The multi-nation test will feature the transmission of small amounts of solar-generated electric power from the ISS using millimeter waves, for the purposes of collecting atmospheric propagation data and testing technologies for power beaming, aiming, and reception. This initiative represents an early first-step towards installation of a global Space Solar Power Grid emphasizing international collaboration, synergy with the terrestrial energy industry and with retail power beaming markets. The technical …

Wireless Transfer Of Power: Proposal For A Five-Nation Demonstration By 2020, Brendan Dessanti, Narayanan Komerath, Don Flournoy

Online Journal of Space Communication

A multinational mission architecture is proposed as a way to jump-start development of a global space solar power (SSP) industry. Solar power generated on the International Space Station (whose orbit is roughly 400 km above the Earth) will be converted to millimeter waves and beamed to ground receivers located in five or more nations, providing measurements of dynamic beam pointing and atmospheric propagation in various parts of the globe. A second spacecraft in a polar orbit at nearly 2000 km, launched by a consortium of nations, will be used as a relay for beamed power delivery from the ground and …

Sunbeams From Space Mirrors Feeding Solar Farms On The Ground At Dusk And Dawn, Tyler Goldberg, Zoe Zeszut, Steve Larkin, Colin Mercer, Shelby Roades, Jimmy Clark, Anthony Zoccola, Logan Hayes

Online Journal of Space Communication

For 40 years, the systems designers of space solar power have given their greatest attention to wireless power as microwave transmission from space to earth. The approach taken in this application is to place space satellites in lower sunsyncronous orbits for the purpose of gathering and focusing sun’s rays into a beam of reflected sunlight. The simple idea and application of this design is to extend the solar day of terrestrial solar farms, thereby increasing solar production capacity to 60 percent and reducing solar electricity costs to under 6 cents/kWh by delivering sunlight to a given location some 14 (rather …

Creative Visualization Of Space Solar Power, Steve Bonahoom, Stephen Buchannan, Garrett Clem, Connie Nemec, Jacqueline Deavenport, S. Phanuthep, Victor Sherrick, Jason Showalter, Jessica Staub, Michael Stephens, Douglas Trein, David Young, Joey Zhang

Online Journal of Space Communication

Electricity is one of the most flexible, cost effective and non-polluting sources of power at the point of use. Energy from Space will be key to achieving and sustaining universal access to this form of power, since all known energy supplies on Earth will be insufficient to keep up with projected world demand for electricity

About 80% of our current energy supply is in the form of fossil fuels. Greater diversification and augmentation of energy sources is needed. To protect our planet, our long-term goal must be to find alternative energy supplies that are clean, renewable, affordable, and available to …

Issue 16: Contributors, Don Flournoy, Ralph Nansen

Online Journal of Space Communication

Contributors to Issue 16

China Walks The Us-India Space Solar Power Dream, Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, Rahul Prakash

Online Journal of Space Communication

While India and the US make pledges about potential collaboration on space, others walk those promises and potentials. In the India-US context, space has remained a potential area of cooperation for the last decade or so whereas China, which has studied the Indo-US joint communications carefully, has made fast progress on space-based solar power (SBSP), in terms of devoting financial and human resources into the project. The need of the hour is for democracies like India, US and may be even Japan to come together, structure large collaborations around space and capture the political space in this regard. The political …

Why Not Space Solar Power?, Don Flournoy

Online Journal of Space Communication

The 2010 U.S. National Space Policy, which supports a robust and competitive commercial space sector, is good news for those of us working to design and launch the new types of satellites that will collect solar energy in space and deliver it to Earth as a nonpolluting source of electrical power.

Sky’S No Limit: Space-Based Solar Power, The Next Major Step In The Indo-Us Strategic Partnership, Peter A. Garretson

Online Journal of Space Communication

IDSA Occassional Paper No. 9 2010

This paper provides a policymaker's overview of a highly scalable, revolutionary, renewable energy technology, Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP), and evaluates it utility within the context of the Indo-US strategic partnership. After providing an overview of the concept and its significance to the compelling problems of sustainable growth, economic development, energy security and climate change, it evaluates the utility of the concept in the context of respective Indian and US political context and energy-climate trajectories. The paper concludes that a bilateral initiative to develop Space-Based Solar Power is highly consistent with the objectives of the …

Space Solar Power, Lunar Mining And The Environment, Al Globus

Online Journal of Space Communication

Standards: one can stay warm in the cold, and cool in the heat. One can travel great distances, desalinate water and convert materials into useful products. However, power production involves substantial pollution. When making long- term energy investment decisions, it is worth considering which energy options can produce large quantities of power for long periods of time at the lowest possible environmental costs. Space Solar Power - when the space segment is built from lunar materials - may well be the best option for one simple reason: most of the work is done thousands of kilometers away from earth.

The Spaceplane Equation, Raghavan Gopalaswami

Online Journal of Space Communication

Revenue earning space missions for deployment of space solar power satellites are economically competitive only when launch costs are in the region of $100-200 / kg in orbit. Nearly one half the capital cost of a solar power station is attributed to space transportation. To meet the objective of safe, affordable space transportation, an abundance of reusable space vehicle design concepts and programs emerged world-over, from 1985 to the present day. All these have been either abandoned or sub-optimally supported. Their designs emerged by the application of the ideal rocket equation derived in 1903 by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. It had served …

Vision For Producing Fresh Water Using Space Power, W. Kent Tobiska

Online Journal of Space Communication

An escalating climate crisis is stressing the Earth's environment. One significantly affected area is the global water infrastructure that includes hydropower, flood defense, drainage, and irrigation systems. The effect of adverse climate change on freshwater systems aggravates population growth and weakens economic conditions. In the western U.S., for example, reduced water supplies plus increased demand are likely to provoke more interstate and urban-rural competition for over-allocated water resources. Seawater desalination has existed for decades as a proven technology for supplying water in coastal areas; however, desalination processes are energy intensive and this has reduced their widespread use. It is noted …

Space Solar Power Via Prizes, Al Globus

Online Journal of Space Communication

A system of prizes is proposed to spur development of Space Solar Power (SSP) by the private sector. The prize is sized ($21 billion) to match the recently announced Japanese initiative to build a one gigawatt (1GW) power satellite. The prize is divided into 21 separate $1B prizes and only one of these will be awarded per satellite installation. This approach will spur development of at least 21 power satellites, or the prize money will be returned to the sponsor. Historically, prizes have been used to spur needed developments in the public interest costing several times more than the purse, …

Legal Issues For Space Based Solar Power, Mark I. Wallach

Online Journal of Space Communication

When Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) entered into a May 2009 contract with Solaren Corp. to purchase power for 150,000 homes starting in 2016, public attention was abruptly focused on a potential major new source of energy: space based solar power (SBSP). First proposed in 1968 by Dr. Peter E. Glaser, Vice President for Advanced Technology at Arthur D. Little, SBSP is based on the simple facts that solar power, the most abundant source of energy on our planet, cannot be collected on the earth's surface at night, and that the sun's rays lose much of their energy while …

Legal Challenges Facing Solar Power Satellites, Kiantar Betancourt

Online Journal of Space Communication

This paper addresses some important legal elements that will be involved in implementation of solar power satellites drawing down energy from the sun, a process commonly called space-based solar power (SBSP). This paper outlines the advantages of SBSP and briefly reviews its history and limited development until today. The paper’s important contribution is to describe the current regime of international space law. It explains specific ways international regulations help to create a supportive environment for launching, maintenance and removal of solar power satellites, while offering suggestions for future improvements to this regime.

Server Sky - Data Centers In Orbit, Keith Lofstrom

Online Journal of Space Communication

Server Sky is a proposal to build large arrays of 7 gram paper-thin solar-powered computer satellites launched into a 6400 kilometer altitude earth orbit. A server-sat is mostly a 100 micron thick, 6 inch solar cell, with processor memory and radio chips around the edges. Server-sats use light pressure for thrust and electrochromic light shutters for steering. Thousands of server-sats will be positioned in three-dimensional arrays, about 100 meters on a side. An array acts as a large phased array antenna transmitting thousands of communication beams simultaneously to ground receivers and to other arrays in space. In space, there is …

The Sunsat Act - Transforming Our Energy, Economy And Environment, Darel Preble

Online Journal of Space Communication

Our global economy depends on low cost energy. In reaction to peaking oil prices, our economy is "in a shambles." We must rebuild our energy supply. Many energy alternatives have been explored and subsidized since the Arab Oil embargo shock of 1973, yet our oil, gas and energy dependency has grown. Our energy security is declining. Rebuilding our primary energy supply is hard. Fortunately, technology has opened the door to a clean new baseload energy player, Space Solar Power (SSP). The difference between communication satellites (comsats) now in use and the power satellites (sunsats) we need, is that sunsats would …

Solar Power Satellite Development: Advances In Modularity And Mechanical Systems, W. Keith Belvin, John T. Dorsey, Judith J. Watson

Online Journal of Space Communication

Space solar power satellites require innovative concepts in order to achieve economically and technically feasible designs. The mass and volume constraints of current and planned launch vehicles necessitate highly efficient structural systems be developed. In addition, modularity and in-space deployment will be enabling design attributes. This paper reviews the current challenges of launching and building very large space systems. A building block approach is proposed in order to achieve near-term solar power satellite risk reduction while promoting the necessary long-term technology advances. Promising mechanical systems technologies anticipated in the coming decades including modularity, material systems, structural concepts, and in-space operations …

Alternative Orbits: A New Space Solar Power Reference Design, Royce Jones

Online Journal of Space Communication

This paper offers a new space solar power reference design based on an elliptical 3-Hour sub-Molniya orbit. Most studies of space-based solar power (SBSP) systems to date have assumed that satellite stationing and photovoltaic (PV) solar energy conversion will take place in geostationary orbit (GEO). This paper argues that GEO/PV systems are not the most feasible solutions for SBSP, not technically and not economically.

Thirty six thousand kilometers above earth is a logical destination for a number of reasons, but that orbit is already largely committed. What is more, this great height and the mass and number of space solar …

Deploying Sunsats, Philip K. Chapman

Online Journal of Space Communication

This paper outlines an analysis of the cost of launching Solar Power Satellites, using launch technology available today. The economies of scale implied by any significant utilization of this energy source will reduce these costs to a level where they contribute less than 2.5¢/kWh to the cost of electric power produced by the system. The only major technical innovation that is needed is the introduction of reusable launch vehicles. While there is certainly room for improvements that would offer even lower costs, the conclusion is that the cost of spaceflight is not a serious impediment to realizing the advantages of …

Low Cost Access To Space Is Key To Solar Power Satellite Deployment, Ralph Nansen

Online Journal of Space Communication

Even though the concept of Solar Power Satellites (SPS) was first proposed in 1968, development has not happened because of the massive initial investment in infrastructure required. The principal infrastructure constraint is in the transportation segment. When the space transportation costs are sufficiently low, we can count on the cost of energy from space to be as low as hydroelectric energy. There is no limit to how much energy can be generated; as long as the sun shines, a clean source of energy is available in space. With improved systems of transport, Solar Power Satellites can be the world's next …

Why Has Sps R&D Received So Little Funding?, Karen Cramer Shea

Online Journal of Space Communication

Solar Power Satellite (SPS) research and development has received little funding over the 40 years since the concept was first introduced. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have each hosted and then cancelled space solar power programs because they didn't fit their mandates. It is time to broaden our search for agencies to fund SPS R&D, to find an agency that deals with both space and energy. Another problem faced by space-based solar power advocates is that launch costs are too high for SPS to be affordable. The launch market is currently …

Sunsats: The Next Generation Of Comsats, Don Flournoy

Online Journal of Space Communication

No solar power satellites (SunSats) are yet in operation. While all space-based satellites host some type of solar collector for the energy needed to power and control them, no satellites are in orbit today for the primary purpose of gathering energy from the sun and delivering it to earth. Because an abundant and sustainable new source of energy is desperately needed on earth and the current level of technological development will now permit it, a huge new satellite sector is about to emerge relaying energy from space to the ground where it will be used as electricity.

The logical path …