“Space Solar Alliance for Future Energy: The Biggest Idea in Space and Energy”
By
Col. Peter Garretson
Indian Pugwash Society in continuation of its monthly lecture series successfully organized a lecture on “Space Solar Alliance for Future Energy: The Biggest Idea in Space and Energy” at Institute of Defence Studies and Strategic Analysis, New Delhi. The lecture was delivered by Col. Peter Garretson, who is currently a Visiting Fellow at IDSA. During the lecture Col. Garretson illuminated the audience with his new ideas in the field of space solar energy, which might prove to be path breaking in near future. The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs has been pioneer in disseminating the knowledge in the realm of science and world affairs that offers certain potential to address the conflicts in human world. Upholding this legacy and recognizing the contribution of Indian Pugwash Society, Col Garretson introduced the audience to a revolutionary idea in the domain of Space Solar Power. He began by pointing out the growing energy needs against the depleting hydrocarbon resources worldwide. The instable energy needs, necessitates exploring the alternate and environment friendly energy resources. He graphically highlighted the projection of population growth against the projection of power generation for India by 2050. It shows that by 2050 India’s population would cross the 1500 million and its energy requirement would surge to 1350 GWs. By 2063 its coal resources would be completely exhausted.
He then moved towards explaining why space solar power is the biggest idea in space and energy. By 2025, the world population would increase by additional 2 Billion. Many will have transitioned from poor to developed lifestyles, and our energy needs will have doubled from 15 to 30TW, i.e. by 2025 world energy requirement will be almost 30TW. It is likely to reach 55TW between 2050 & 2100. It presents a major challenge for scientific community to provide the large amounts of renewable, sustainable, GHG-free energy to the grid. In this context Space Solar Power could emerge as a potential source, and promises to fill the gap created by depleting fossil fuels and eventually replace them. The Space Solar power scores merits over other renewable energy sources by providing the constancy, reliability and high duty cycle for urban settlements & industry. He further argued that even with significant deployment of all renewable energy sources, analysts project a significant deficit to meet our needs.
The Energy Challenge that confronts our today and tomorrow is multifold. It requires us to explore the alternative future energy options that must be
- Non-depletable - to prevent resource conflicts
- Environmentally clean – to permit a sustainable future
- Availability – to provide base-load secure power for everyone
- In a usable form – to permit efficient consumption & minimal infrastructure
- Low cost - to permit constructive opportunity for all populations
Thus a major portfolio of substantial investments is needed; nevertheless the options in the next 20-30 years are limited. Today, Earth needs 15 TW; soon it will need 30 TW. But what is the best way to harvest this energy? Traditional Solar power is reduced in power, constancy, and utility by the Day-Night, Summer-Winter & Weather cycles. Against all these odds Space-Based Solar Power promises to emerge as the potential source of energy for the future. The unique characteristic of Space Solar Power is that the tyranny of the weather cycles does not affect its performance. It solves the problems not through storage or distribution, but changing the collection point .i.e go where the energy resource is huge & constant. Harry G. Stine calculated that GEO alone could accommodate construction of (17,700 Sats @ 10 GW) = 177 TW.
Emerging Opportunities and Experts View:
Garretson in order to emphasize his case cited India’s President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. During his address to Boston University Dr. Kalam made the case that, “solar flux on earth is available for just 6-8 hours every day whereas incident radiation on space solar power station would be 24 hrs every day. What better vision can there be for the future of space exploration, than participating in a global mission for perennial supply of renewable energy from space?” Space based solar power stations have six to fifteen times greater capital utilization than equivalent sized ground solar stations. Linking Space solar power to reverse osmosis technology for large- scale drinking water supplies could be yet another major contribution of Space.
He further stated that Space Based Solar Power’s (SBSP) renaissance Stared with DoD/NSSO Report 2007. The report say that Space-Based Solar Power does present a strategic opportunity that could significantly advance US and partner security, capability, and freedom of action, and merits significant further attention on the part of the United States Government and the private sector.…and expect to find broad interest in SBSP [including] foreign governments such as Japan, the EU, Canada, India, China, Russia, and others
Space Solar Alliance for Future Energy (SSAFE): The common goal of Space Solar Alliance for Future Energy founding member groups: To ensure that the benefits of renewable clean energy from space solar power are understood and supported by business, governments and the general public.”
National Space Society (NSS) Position Paper: The National Space Society believes that one of the most important long-term solutions for meeting those energy needs is Space Solar Power (SSP), which gathers energy from sunlight in space and sends it to Earth. We believe that SSP can solve our energy and greenhouse gas emissions problems.
Transmission Market Potential: MPT is the most commonly proposed method for transferring energy to the surface of the Earth from solar power satellites or other in-orbit power sources. The report details the technology behind Microwave Power Transmission, the use of MPT in SPSS and a lot more to it.
Deliver longer-term payoffs (within four to eight years) for energy and the environment: As a potential long-term energy solution, an effort would be made to demonstrate initially on a small scale wireless power transmission from space to Earth using shuttle and ISS. …this concept has made major strides since its inception …Demonstrating space solar power on a small scale would help us better understand what would need to be done to utilize this concept for electrical power needs. Beyond enhancement of energy production per se, SBSP might help create new economic opportunities through resultant technology advances in space launch, space utilization, and technological spin-offs applicable to a host of materials and processes.
Technology: ● Go where there is no night ● Go where the intensity is unaffected by Summer-Winter & Weather Cycles to get constant power & high duty cycle ● Space Solar lifecycle CO2 is better than nuclear; 60x better than coal
The Satellite: ● Large Collectors focus energy on ● Solar Cells or Solar Dynamic ● Convert to Electricity ● Send to Radio Antenna
The Rectenna: ● Many lines of wire with rectifying diodes ● Converts over 80% of energy ● About the size of a small Airport (3-5km) ● Land below good for Agriculture
The Beam: ● Just like your Wi-Fi or Cell Phone ● Frequency transparent to atmosphere ● Long Frequency, Non-ionizing (Safe) ● 1/6th the intensity of peak sunlight ● Beam Direction and Concentration:
Mass is large and orbit is “fixed” ● Sized specifically for distance - Can’t focus to dangerous level ● Encrypted pilot signal necessary to focus Space Solar Appears to Offer Favorable Environmental Trades in: ● Heat Rejection to Biosphere (15% vs. >50%) ● Most waste heat is rejected to space ● Additional radiation well below daily fluctuation ● CO2 Emissions ● Lifecycle CO2 Emissions are lower than nuclear ● 1/60th of Coal (without sequestration) ● Energy Payback Time appears equivalent to ground solar ● Water Usage ● Rectennas do not require water for cooling ● Land Usage ● Land usage is considerably less than terrestrial solar for equivalent average power ● Rectennas are >80% transparent to sunlight and would allow agricultural and pastoral uses
Material Challenges: ● Minimize Total Mass and Packaged volume through appropriate use of: Density, Strength, Stiffness. ● Total Mass Drives propellant burdon (esp LEO to GEO) ● Packaged Volume (maximize transport to LEO) ● Some structural members may have extreme compaction ratios
Damage Tolerance: Resist loss of mission capability due to usage-induced damage (debris, handling, deployment from stowage) & non-propagation of local damage to overall control
Durability: Resist loss of function due to environmental exposure and general mission usage (Radiation, Temperature, chemical exposures in space environment, cycling loads due to temperature & thruster-induced structural flexing
What we don’t have today: According to Garretson the project on such scale requires diversified pool of scientists, experts and advocates from all walks of life. It requires a dedicated Academic Center of Excellence. Besides that the project materializes only through a coordinated push onto the Strategic Partnership Agenda. In this context India and U.S. can add a new chapter in their agenda on bilateral strategic partnership. Garretson believes that there is a tremendous scope and expertise in India that could be employed in developing the project of such a scale. For the initiation of any large scale project requires initiating a pilot project to study its feasibility.
Discussion: Col .Garetson’s thought provoking lecture left the audience with many questions. Dr Arvind Gupta, Director of Studies Indian Pugwash Society reiterated the potential of Space Solar Power and genuine requirement for its further development. Expressing his skepticism he described the idea in its current form as 90% science fiction and 10% reality. Nevertheless, he believed that the Solar Power remains an unexplored field with lots of potential still untapped. He also expressed a hope that after civilian nuclear energy cooperation, it could be solar energy cooperation that can be on Indo - US bilateral strategic agenda. He stated that, pilot project on small scale can be granted to expert’s group in universities across the country, where the new minds can be engaged in developing the project. He thanked Peter Garretson for his thoughtful presentation.
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