This article first appeared in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report.
Military planners responsible for finding space resources to support troops on the ground think the time may be ripe to advance the 40-year-old space solar power concept to help reduce the logistics train behind forward-deployed forces.
The concept of collecting solar energy above the atmosphere and beaming it to the ground as microwaves or lasers has long been seen among military freethinkers as a way to get electricity to remote airfields, fire bases or other distant outposts without having to haul fuel for diesel generators.
But that out-of-the-box concept may be gaining new life as the incoming administration looks for “green-energy” technologies to reduce reliance on foreign oil, and technologists home in on the hardware that would be needed to orbit deployable sunlight collectors measuring kilometers across and get power down from them to troops on the ground. Engineers studying space solar power (SSP) believe a pilot plant could be orbited fairly soon.
“The end game needs to have a pilot plant in operation within 10 to 12 years,” said John Mankins, chief operating officer of Managed Energy Technologies and a longtime SSP advocate. “By pilot plant I mean a small but full-scale operational system delivering megawatts of power to the Earth.“
The price tag would be relatively small by Pentagon standards, at least initially. Mankins estimates an end-to-end systems study, with some early lab work and low-cost flight-tests, would cost about $100 million and take about three years.
The Pentagon’s National Security Space Office proposed just such a study in a report on SSP as “an opportunity for strategic security” released in October 2007. “It’s being talked about,” said a defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity in the absence of policy guidance. “Part of the problem has to do with perception… It’s [about] roles and responsibilities, and having people get over the giggle factor, that this is actually something that’s real.“
Mankins said a pilot plant delivering 5–10 megawatts “does mesh nicely” with a notional military requirement for a system to deliver power from space to forward-deployed forces. To meet the 10-year timeline for a pilot plant, he said, it would take another three years after the systems study to put together a flight demonstration in low-Earth orbit, and another four to six years after that to get a pilot plant in geostationary orbit.
The National Security Space Office concluded that “while significant technical challenges remain, space-based solar power is more technically executable than ever before and current technological vectors promise to further improve its viability,” according to the 2007 report. “A government-led demonstration of proof-of-concept could serve to catalyze commercial sector development.“
For the Pentagon, there would be distinct tactical benefits even from a pilot plant. It could be a “disruptive game changer on the battlefield,” the report said, providing “energy on demand” across a military theater and potentially supporting “entirely new force structures and capabilities such as ultra long-endurance airborne or terrestrial surveillance or combat systems to include the individual soldier himself.”
Read the rest of this story, see whether Donley will stay on as USAF Sec and read why the Swiss aren’t into the whole used fighter market from our friends at Aviation Week exclusively on Military.com.
– Christian
A space solar power station in LOW earth orbit? Would be interesting to see how they propose to deal with the fact that it’s only overhead a minute or two per orbit … batteries are heavy, after all.
Wouldn’t a space based solar power collector be in a geostationary orbit?
Come on guys the brainpower @ AW&ST and the Pentagon are aware of “basic orbital mechanics”.I would really like to hear more details. Maybee I’ll look at that other publication “Aviation Leak and Spooky Technology” that I heard about
Come on guys the brainpower @ AW&ST and the Pentagon are aware of “basic orbital mechanics”.I would really like to hear more details. Maybee I’ll look at that other publication “Aviation Leak and Spooky Technology” that I heard about
Beamed down to earth in the form of microwaves or lasers.
Pentagon spokesman “The “beam” from our orbital weapons…I mean power station was too narrow and accidentally vaporized those insurgents”
Please excuse my technical problems. My reply from this smartphone was cut in half and the top half was sent twice.
I’m respectfully LOL @ this concept as stated. The folks in the tech forum for this article have made the point much more eloquently than I have. Follow the link and you’ll see what I mean.
I give 10 years for some really practicle solar panel. The guys at MIT are doing some really great progress.
LEO tests would be much cheaper than putting experiements into geostationary orbit. These would be flight tests of technologies, not practical production power stations. Assuming the power stations require human assembly in orbit, it is likely that assembly will take place in LEO and the station would then slowly have its orbital speed increased to change its orbit to a geostationary one over a desired region.
wtf isnt leo like being in a shooting range so much crap up ther whats it up to 25k bu now more probbly.… and no offense didnt the chinse blow a sat out of the sky?
great idea for commercial purposes i guys but wont hold my breath pocket nukeplants maybe? this no.
for a space baced railgun hell yea power no problem plus no air to cause havoc when you fire the projectile hell make it 300ft long and make the round heaier how much force could it strick with then
Can we fund this given this crisis were in?
Nice idea, just aim & burn Tehran from Space.
Radical, then have B2s finish job for any “leftovers“
Non nuclear.
Radical
Dear stephen your comment is EPIC!
Sry ValcAN
!
Orbital super tazer set to extra crispy