US plans to harness solar energy in space for military purposes

News, US December 19, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

U.S. defense giant Northrop Grumman unveiled its plans to develop a mechanism that would collect the sun’s energy in space and beam that energy down to Earth.

Northrop Grumman has named the project Space Solar Power Incremental Demonstrations and Research or SSPIDR. Space-based solar power is the concept of collecting solar energy in outer space by solar power satellites and distributing it to anywhere on Earth.

Space-based solar power systems convert sunlight to some other form of energy, such as microwaves, which can be transmitted through the atmosphere to receivers on the Earth’s surface.

The concept to harness solar energy from space and beaming it down to the earth was initially theorized by the science fiction author Isaac Asimov in the 1940s. Making the science fiction concept a reality, the SSPIDR technology can be used to power the forward operating military basis in contested areas where warfighters need steady power to maintain mission operations.

Harnessing solar power for use on Earth does not have enormous potential to cut energy scarcity. Northrop Grumman explains the beaming power source can be projected to a particular location where military personnel establishes a forward operating base one of the most dangerous parts of the ground operation is getting power. The source can also be used to power military convoys and supply lines, which are major targets for adversaries, and are the usual methods to supply power that makes them vulnerable.

The solar-powered beaming energy technology can provide constant, consistent, and logistically agile power to expeditionary forces operating in hard-to-reach areas assuring power is transmitted via radio frequency (RF) from space and reducing reliance on fuel convoys and other energy generation methods.

*^{An artistic rendering showing the concept of collecting solar energy in space and beaming converted RF energy to a terrestrial rectenna. (Image Credit: U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory)}*

According to the SSPIDR program director at Northrop Grumman Tara Theret, “Space solar power beaming has the potential to provide energy anywhere on Earth at any time, making consistent and reliable energy available to remote locations when it’s needed most.”

Theret further added that “With this demonstration, we are one step closer to taking this technology out of the lab and putting it on orbit.”

Apart from the U.S., European space agencies as well as China and Japan are working on the concept to deploy space-based solar-powered energy sources.

In 2019, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology also reported the construction of testing to deploying space-based energy sources. China expects to be the first nation to build a working space solar power station with practical value. Chinese scientists were reported as planning to launch several small- and medium-sized space power stations between 2021 and 2025. However, the plans to launch a space-based solar power station were delayed in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and other complications.