An Interesting Device Will Be Sent to Earth Orbit

Caltech recently received a $100 million grant to launch the first solar farm prototype into orbit. Space solar power plants will be able to receive renewable energy from orbit 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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Solar Farms Coming to Orbit

Project researchers aim to develop a technology that can receive solar energy from space around the clock, seven days a week. They build cutting-edge ultra-light structures that can collect energy and transfer it from orbit to Earth.

It is very convenient to collect solar energy in space. The energy potential in space is about eight times better per square meter of solar panel than here on Earth. The problem is that the costs of starting, installing and maintaining the equipment are difficult.

However, employees of the California Institute of Technology (“Caltech”) have been working on a space solar project for nearly 10 years. During this time, they raised millions of dollars and created prototypes of functional "tiles" with an area of ​​​​about 10 cm. Not only do they capture solar energy, it also takes on the task of converting it to radio frequencies.

Highly integrated, highly flexible tiles weighing less than 2.8 grams each. It is designed to be foldable into a configuration with almost zero wastage. This means they can easily fit in a launch vehicle and are easier to send into orbit where they will deploy themselves. The video below shows a prototype tile that collects light and transmits energy to a receiver.

Therefore, the entire space solar array is designed as an ultra-modular assembly. The tiles are designed to be in strips up to 2 m wide and 60 m long. These strips are combined into modules of approximately 60×60 m.

In December this year, the prototype will be tested in space. It is unclear exactly how much money will be spent on the project.