Solar Powered Satellite (SPS) System

By Subhasis Paul

Introduction
In the interest of all, particularly school going students, this narration on SPS and ushering of new Space
Age has focused on the basic principles of science that forms the foundation of this program. Alternate
source of energy have always enthused us. Projects on domestic lighting using solar energy are now done
at school level. Commercializations from steam engine to computer and internet have led to far reaching
social consequences. When operational, SPS will have similar rippling effect all across the globe. This
awareness on SPS will be beneficial for students, parents and teachers to understand the complex geo
political world awaiting us in near future. The SPS phenomena will draw interest not only from scientists
and engineers but also followers from other disciplines like finance and arts. For me, this is a new subject.
I am greatly influenced by my college friend Dr.S.Sen to trigger this special interest in me.

Terms
Planetary Orbit: It is the path traced by planets in its journey
around the sun. Earth rotates around sun and thus avoids
collision with sun due to each others gravitational attraction.
The inward gravitational force on earth is neutralized by FG
outward centripetal force that arises due to earth’s rotation FC E Sun Earth Orbit
FG
around sun. Imagine a chord, tied to a rotating stone at one end
snaps suddenly. The stone will rocket outward from the centre
of rotation. The force that causes this outward motion is
centripetal force. This is the underlying principle of rotation of
planets around the sun or man made satellites around earth.

Geostationary Orbit (GEO): Earth rotates about an axis passing through north and south pole that causes
day and night. The period of rotation is 1 day or 24 hours. Imagine a satellite rotating around earth with
the same time period. A light beam focused from the satellite always falls on the same place on earth. The
satellite will appear stationary with respect to a fixed point on rotating earth. This happens at no expense
of energy. The orbit at which this phenomenon happens is called GEO. The orbit distance from earth’s
surface can be mathematically calculated. The distance is independent of the weight of the satellite. GEO
is about 35800 Km from earth surface at equator. Most commercial communications satellites, broadcast
satellites and meteorological satellites operate in geostationary orbit.

Low Earth Orbit (LEO): Whereas GEO is at 35800 Km, LEO is the space within 2000 Km from earth
surface. For SPS system, LEO has been conceived to play the role of final launching pad to GEO. Crew
strength required for construction and maintenance for SPS can be based at LEO. Introduction of LEO in
SPS system also improves the economy of the system. Current SPS system design estimates LEO to be at
500 Km from earth surface.

EM Spectrum: Spectrum means range, variety. Start with light, the most visible Electromagnetic wave.
Light is a form of energy. The EM wave that we observe is the physical manifestation of this energy. The
range and variety of physical manifestation of energy is known as EM Spectrum. Some of the physical
measurements of EM wave are temperature, human visibility, atmospheric penetrability, wave length or
frequency. Wave speed is always constant and equals speed of light. Some of the nomenclatures of these
energy levels are familiar to us – radio wave, microwave, X-ray. All are energy, manifested in infinite
probability.
Photon: Photons are the carriers of energy. It carries energy of all EM waves - gamma rays, X-rays,
ultraviolet light, visible light, infrared light, microwaves, and radio waves. It has zero mass and travels at
the speed of light. Energy of photon is proportional to its frequency. Thus an infrared-photon carries less
energy than a visible-photon.

Microwave: Microwaves are EM waves at certain frequency span of EM spectrum. Microwaves are
extensively used for communication, remote sensing and navigation. For power transmission from SPS to
Earth, MW technology can be used.

Quantum Mechanics: The physical universe is probabilistic rather than deterministic. So is the
underlying principal of quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics is the study of mechanical systems
whose dimensions are close to or below the atomic scale, such as molecules, atoms, electrons, protons and
other subatomic particles. Without it, the theory of Planetary Orbit as explained above with classical
mechanics cannot be applied to the constantly orbiting electrons around an atomic nucleus. For example,
if classical Newtonian mechanics governed the workings of an atom, electrons would rapidly travel
towards and collide with the nucleus, making stable atoms impossible. One of the main pillars of
Quantum theory is Heisenberg' s uncertainty principle. It states that the location of an orbiting electron
around nucleus cannot be precisely determined. Quantum theory also postulates that elementary particles
behave both like particle and like waves.

Photovoltaic (PV): PV is a technique that converts light energy to electrical energy. Quantum mechanics
can explain the photovoltaic effect i.e. why a ray of light or photon, incident on certain materials can
release a free electron and thus produce electricity. There is no moving part involved in this type of
electricity generation, thus reducing maintenance.

Nanotechnology: Nano means 10-9. One nanometer is 10-9 meter. Nanotechnology is the branch of
science and engineering that deals with matter at nanometer scale. At nano-scale, quantum forces become
the dominating force over gravity resulting in change of some physical properties (mechanical, electrical,
optical etc.) of the matter. Using the concept of molecular manufacturing, materials can be built using
nano-machines to satisfy some predetermined requirements. Nanotechnology can play a significant role in
manufacturing high efficient solar cells that produce electricity from sun light.
Concept

The concept of SPS was patented in US by Peter Glaster in 1973. Since then it arose interest at various
time and across many state and non-state organizations. NASA is one of the main proponents of SPS
system.

Geostationary Orbit

Transmitting Antenna - always

Receiving antenna on earth oriented towards fixed receiving
antenna on earth

Sunlight
Satellite

Collector cells always oriented towards Sun

The basic concept is to put a satellite in space to capture continuous solar energy and beam the energy
back to earth. The satellite will be placed in geostationary orbit so that energy beam from the transmitting
antenna of the satellite is always directed towards the fixed receiving antenna on earth. With this
configuration, three distinct possibilities exist to beam back energy from sun and harness it on earth.

Solar Dynamic (SD): SD uses a heat engine to drive a piston or a turbine which connects to a generator
or dynamo to produce electricity. At the receiving end, it is very similar to a coal or gas fired power plant
with the exception that instead of coal or gas, the heat is provided by highly concentrated sunlight. The
transmitting end will have large curved reflectors to focus sunlight to achieve a high temperature for the
heat engine to operate at high thermodynamic efficiency. This will possibly be done using Laser
technology. The reflecting mirrors can be made from very this aluminum or other metal sheets with very
light frames, easily constructed from materials available in space (eg, on the Moon' s surface).

Photovoltaic (PV): PV uses collector cells installed at satellite end that are photovoltaic in nature. These
cells convert sunlight or photons to electricity via a quantum mechanical mechanism. These are
commonly known as “solar cells”, and will likely be quite different from the glass panel protected solar
cell panels familiar to us. Electricity thus generated is converted to directed microwave and beamed on
earth surface using transmitting antenna. On earth, MW is converted back to electricity.

Concentrating Photovoltaic (CPV): CPV system like SD use large mirror arrays in space to beam back
concentrated light to earth. On earth PV technology is used to convert concentrated light to electricity,
thus avoiding thermodynamic constraints which apply to heat engines.
SPS Design

We will discuss here the Original SPS Reference Design as envisioned by NASA with the current set of
technology and knowledge base we have. The design takes into consideration technology options, finance
and economy of power utility, international relations and the global environmental situations. The figures
below will reiterate the gigantic tasks that lay ahead of us.

Satellite System
Overall Dimension 10 x 5 x 0.5 Km Sun Ray PV Collector DC Klystron
Structural Material Graphite composite System System
GEO Distance 35800 Km
Guided MW
LEO Distance 480 Km
Collection System PV cells Directed MW
Transmitting
DC to MW Conversion Klystron machine Antenna System
Transmission Antenna Diameter 1 Km

Earth System Directed

Output Power of Each Unit 5GW (5 x 109 Watt) MW
Receiving
Receiving Antenna Size 12 x 15 Km Antenna System
MW to Electricity Conversion (DC)
Guided
DC to AC Conversion MW Electricity
MW to DC
Converter

Efficiency of SPS

SPS System requires conversion of energy from one form to other. In an ideal world, energy cannot be
created or destroyed. But for SPS as an isolated system each conversion will be accompanied by an
energy conversion loss. Less the loss, more is the efficiency. In addition there are other losses during sun
energy collection and transmission. These are the conversion processes and efficiency percentage for a
PV Type SPS System:

Conversion Process Efficiency % Comment

PV Collection 88 At transmission end

Conversion of Photons to Electricity 15.7 Very low, at transmission end
Conversion of Electricity to Microwave 76.6 Mechanized, at transmission end
Antenna Collection 96.5 At transmission end
Wireless Transmission Loss 96.1 In space and earth atmosphere
Antenna Collection
Conversion of MW to Electricity } 78.3 On Earth
Mechanized, on Earth

Overall efficiency of the SPS System is 7.81% (= product of efficiency of each constituent systems). One
area of improvement is item#2, conversion of photon to electricity. We understand that this conversion
can be well explained by quantum mechanics. Advancement of our knowledge in nanotechnology
coupled with that of quantum mechanics will lead to development of very high efficient PV cells, thereby
enhancing the overall efficiency of SPS System. The other energy conversion areas, electricity to
microwave and vice versa are done by man made machines and also have potential for improvements.
Advantages of SPS

• The lifetime of the sun is an estimated 4-5 billion years, making space solar power a truly long-
term energy solution.
• Unlike oil, gas, ethanol, and coal plants, space solar power does not emit greenhouse gases or
depend on increasingly scarce fresh water or mineral resources on earth. It does not require
environmentally problematic mining operations.
• Unlike nuclear power plants, space solar power will not produce hazardous waste, which needs to
be stored and guarded for hundreds of years.
• Unlike earth based solar and wind power plants, space solar power is available 24 hours a day, 7
days a week, in huge quantities. It works regardless of cloud cover, daylight, or wind speed.
• Space solar power will not require dependence on unstable or hostile foreign oil providers to meet
energy needs, thereby eliminating a major source of national competition for limited Earth-based
energy resources.

Time Span and Commercial Viability

In the concept of Design to Cost, it is assumed that the retail price of the end COST
product is known. Accordingly production cost of each component is derived.
The retail cost of electricity from SPS has to be pragmatically calculated CONVENTIONAL
taking into consideration future cost rise of electricity generated from
conventional technologies. Constant R&D will bring down production and
implementation cost of each of the SPS components. Infusion of new SPS
technology frontiers like nanotechnology will further narrow down the design
and calculated cost gap. Time span to make SPS system operational is related
to its commercial viability. TIME

Problem Areas

Mankind has never before built anything on Earth or Space as colossal as this. There are innumerable
risks. There are risks involved with the required speed of technological advancements, construction
problems, transportation hazards, safety hazards and financial concerns. But then all projects start with
high risk and tend to become green as the project progresses. For now, the project is a non-starter as with
all optimizations, the power generation cost is prohibitively high, about eight to ten times of current
electricity cost.
Generation of electricity by SPS and thereby dependency reduction on fossil fuel will also demand
development in other areas like transportation systems. With the development of hybrid car that runs on
rechargeable batteries, the purpose is lost if the batteries are required to be charged from electricity
generated with fossil fuel.

Conclusion

SPS will bring great change in foreign relations. There will be excellent advancement of energy security –
the dependence on imported oil. With improved energy security, relation between nations will be
redefined. China, for example, will no longer need to prop up unstable states like Sudan and Venezuela.
India will put her grand oil pipeline plan from Iran via disturbed territories of Pakistan in cold storage.
Europe’s dependency on state owned Russian oil will lessen. It will spell doom for programs like the
infamous Oil for Food of Iraq. The geo political reverberations of an operational SPS system will be
global. Nations eager to achieve this security and further their development goals need to join hands and
commit resources in SPS project, the size and scope of which will rival that of Manhattan project,
unleashed by U.S. for development of nuclear bomb.
Sources

Wikipedia Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_satellite

Space Solar Power Library - http://www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/library/index.htm

SPS Reference Design - http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/neep533/SPRING2004/lecture40.pdf

Solar Photovoltaic Technologies - http://www.dep.iitb.ac.in/SPT/slides/Lecture-2%20SPT-DEC.ppt#1

Centre for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN) - http://www.crnano.org/