March 28, 2024

Finally, a Practical use for Space-Based Power Beaming. Sending Power to Satellites in Shade

All current CubeSats and other microsatellites have to have their own power system. In some cases they are powered by photovoltaic panels, other times by batteries, and much more rarely by radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). These services have constraints, including minimal life times (batteries) or restricted size (RTGs, solar panels). Any enhancement in the way microsatellites can be powered would be welcomed by the burgeoning satellite market.
Principle of a space-based power beaming satellite.Credit– ESA
That enhancement is the focus of a SPRINT (SPace Research and Innovation Network for Technology) grant that provided ₤ 7.4 million to a public-private partnership involving the University of Surreys Department of Physics and Space Power, a private company supported by the OI Space Incubator. The grant comes on the heels of an expediency research study the 2 entities produced that showed the principle of utilizing a laser to send out power from one satellite to another..
And with the increasing need for business satellites will come increased commercial opportunities for novel methods to power them. With a goal of developing commercially readily available products by 2025, the team at Space Power and the University of Surrey have a lot of work ahead of them.
Learn More: University of Surrey– Revolutionizing satellite power utilizing laser beamingSpace PowerExecutiveGov.com– Space Power, University of Surrey Develop Wireless Satellite Power Beaming TechnologyUT– The Navy is Testing Beaming Solar Power in Space.
Lead Image: Concept image revealing how a power satellite might power other microsatellites with solar panels.Credit– Space Power.
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Power beaming is among those technologies that can entirely alter the world. Practically limitless power any place it is needed, whenever its required, is literally an innovation directly out of science fiction. Scientists have been dealing with the innovation for decades at this moment, however there has been little commercial headway so far, so what is holding this revolutionary innovation up? A “killer app” would certainly assist move it along– and that is what a group from Space Power, a private company, and the University of Surrey believe they have found in the kind of powering other microsatellites.

A “killer app” would definitely assist move it along– and that is what a team from Space Power, a personal company, and the University of Surrey believe they have actually discovered in the form of powering other microsatellites.

And with the increasing requirement for industrial satellites will come increased business chances for novel ways to power them. With an objective of producing commercially readily available items by 2025, the group at Space Power and the University of Surrey have a lot of work ahead of them.