China’s vision to provide inexhaustive solar energy by 2050

A monumental leap in solving Earth’s addiction to non-clean power sources

Space-based solar power  (SBSP) is the concept of collecting solar power in outer space and distributing it to Earth.

A considerable fraction of incoming solar energy (55–60%) is lost on its way through the Earth’s atmosphere by the effects of reflection and absorption. Space-based solar power systems convert sunlight to microwaves outside the atmosphere, avoiding these losses and the downtime because of the Earth’s rotation, but at a substantial cost due to the expense of launching material into orbit. Solar energy derived from space is the biggest potential for Earth and humans as a race. China said in a recent announcement about the project that an enormous advantage of space-based solar power is its ability to offer energy supply constantly and with greater intensity than terrestrial solar farms. Major powers like this country are viewing space less concerned with “securing the high ground“ for espionage and nuclear deterrence and more for access to the vast material and energy resources of the inner solar system. China’s aspirations towards space are of paramount significance to future space governance.

Over the past decades, China has witnessed observable progress with regard to its space activities. On April 24, 1970, China successfully launched its first satellite (Dong Fang Hong I) into space and it has immensely matured its research since. In 1999 China launched its first unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou I, followed by Shenzhou II and III in 2001 and 2002, respectively. In 2003, China sent its first manned spacecraft (Shenzhou V) into space and in 2007 it carried out its first anti-satellite missile tests. In 2010, it both orbited an unmanned spacecraft around the Moon and landed a rover on its surface. On October 30, 2015, China tested the Dong Neng-3, an exo-atmospheric vehicle capable of hitting satellites over 18,640 miles away in space.

Moreover, China aims to improve the Beidou 2 navigation system to provide regional coverage by 2018 and offer global coverage by 2020. Recently, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation issued a report claiming that the country will achieve a major breakthrough by 2040 regarding nuclear-powered space shuttles. This will enable the mining of space-based resources and the establishment of solar power stations by 2035. Solar energy may jump up to an entirely new level by that date. With an investment of 200 million yuan ($28.4 million), China is building a 33-acre testing facility in Bishan, southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, for the research of high-power wireless energy transmission and its impact on the environment. Not to mention that this could massively cut down on current fossil fuel consumption.

China’s ambitious space project

To kick-start the project, China plans to accomplish a 200-tonne megawatt-level space-based solar power station by 2035, according to the CAST, the China Academy of Space Technology. The station would capture the Sun’s energy that never makes it all the way down to Earth, according to Wang Li, a CAST research fellow with the program, when attending the sixth China-Russia Engineering Forum held last week in Xiamen, southeast China’s Fujian Province. Wang mentioned that the energy would be converted into microwaves or lasers and be beamed back to our planet to be used for our consumption. Furthermore, he said “We hope to strengthen international cooperation and make scientific and technological breakthroughs so that humankind can achieve the dream of limitless clean energy at an early date.”

“Compared with traditional fossil energy, which has been increasingly exhausted and is responsible for severe environmental issues, space-based solar power is more efficient and sustainable, providing a reliable power supply solution for satellites and disaster-hit areas or isolated areas on the Earth”, Wang said.

Scientists and engineers in this field will spur the country’s space science and innovation in emerging industries like commercial space transportations. Once the testing base begins operations, they will use tethered balloons equipped with solar panels to verify microwave transmission technologies. The long-term safety impact of microwave radiation from a space power station on the atmosphere and Earth’s ecology would also need to be studied, the researchers said.

“We plan to launch four to six tethered balloons from the testing base and connect them with each other to set up a network at an altitude of around 1,000 meters.  These balloons will collect sunlight and convert solar energy to microwave before beaming it back to Earth. Receiving stations on the ground will convert such microwaves to electricity and distribute it to a grid.”

Xie Gengxin, deputy head of the Chongqing Collaborative Innovation Research Institute for Civil-Military Integration in Southwestern China.

“A space solar power system orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 36,000 kilometers could tap the energy of the Sun’s rays without disruption from atmospheric conditions or loss of sunlight at night”

Pang Zhihao from the CAST.

Ambition has long been a challenge for current technology due to the cost of launching massive industrial-scale stations, which could weigh up to 1,000 tons. This has been a major obstacle for scientists in the United States and Japan who have been working on proof-of-principle technologies. China is considering using 3D printing to create and construct stations in space to avoid launching the hefty weight. Other important issues with renewable-energy projects like solar and wind power plants are their intermittency — that refers to the fact that the Sun isn’t shining and the wind is not blowing 24-hours a day, limiting the periods of time during which these projects can be a source of power generation. Space-based solar power stations would not only offer a solution to this problem but also to delivery.

Today, utility power generation is regional, if not local, but electricity generated in space and near the equator could be beamed almost anywhere across the globe, except for the poles. “You could beam electricity from Canada to the Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America from a satellite at equator,” said John Mankins, President of space systems and technology from Artemis Innovation Management Solutions and former NASA physicist. Roughly one billion people live in the Americas.

 The idea of a Space-based solution was first hatched back in 1941 when science fiction author Isaac Asimov wrote about the concept of harnessing power from Space. The concept of a power-generating platform in geostationary orbit was later proposed in 1968 by aerospace engineer Peter Glaser and has been a popular idea among scientists but has seen little in terms of development due to technological and financial hurdles.

Timing

• Next 10 years: complete the space ultra-high voltage power transmission and wireless energy transmission tests.
• ​2030: start building megawatt-level space solar power test station.
• Before 2050: build gigawatt level commercial space solar power station