Space Borne Solar Prototype Successfully Beams First Wirelessly Transmitted Power to Earth

(Photo : NASA)

Beaming down solar power from space could theoretically provide an endless energy source with limitations at its efficiency and reliability. For the first time ever, a prototype in space has been able to beam down wireless power to Earth.

Space Solar Power Prototype

According to Power Mag, the recent achievement was a significant step forward in space-based solar power. The prototype came from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and seeks to transmit power from space to Earth wirelessly.

This achievement gets humanity a step further into potentially harvesting solar power in space and sending it to Earth. To send the space-gathered energy, the prototype must beam it down via microwave radiation.

While this concept was previously referred to as "far-fetched," the new achievement showcases remarkable progress. It has also been a topic of international interest as more entities would try to harness unlimited solar power.

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SSPD-1 Space Prototype

The prototype was called the Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1) and launched in January. It took with it three separate technologies that greatly assisted its accomplishment.

The SSPD-1 was a 50km prototype and was able to demonstrate MAPLE in June. Datacenter Dynamics reports that this abbreviation is short for Microwave Array for Power-transfer Low-orbit Experiment.

MAPLE was described as an array of flexible, lightweight microwave power that transmitters and were built with low-cost silicone. The transmitter utlized precise timing-control elements to focus power to a specific location.

Power Mag reports that this was done through coherent addition of electromagnetic waves, and so far, MAPLE is still lined up for additional experiments. Ali Hajimiri, the Solar Power Project's Electrical Engineering and Medical Engineering Bren professor, was the one who developed MAPLE.

He said that with the already conducted experiments, they've successfully transmitted power to receivers in space. Hajimiri said that they successfully learned how energy could survive the trip to space.

MAPLE Technology

The MAPLE came with separate receiver arrays close to the transmitter. They were responsible for converting DC electricity to utilize LEDs. This demonstrated how wireless energy is transmitted through space.

The LEDs were lit individually and then shifted back and forth, this allowed the researchers to test wireless energy at a distance. Hajimiri also highlited that so far, they didn't know of other instances where wireless energy transfer was successful in space despite the use of expensive rigid structures.

Power Mag reports that MAPLE also had a small opening that allowed it to beam energy from. On Earth, receivers located at the Pasadena campus of Caltech located at the Gordon and Betty Moore Laboratory of Engineering detected the transmitted energy.

The achievments come six months after the launch of the SSPD-1 on January 3, where it boarded the Momentus Vigoride spacecraft atop a SpaceX rocket. Caltech says that for the technology to be feasible, they need lightweight energy transmission arrays for minimal fuel use when launching them into space.