Space equipment collects the sun’s rays, converts them into electricity, and then sends them over a long distance in the form of ultra-precise microwaves.
For the first time in history, researchers from the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) were able to transmit solar energy from space to Earth without wires. They reported on their experiment on the school’s website.
Scientists used MAPLE, a microwave array for a low-orbit energy transfer experiment, which consists of an array of flexible and lightweight energy transmitters controlled by special electronic chips. The prototype transmitted the solar energy collected in space in the form of microwaves to the roof of the Gordon and Betty Moore Engineering Laboratory on the campus of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, where a special receiver was installed.
We have received confirmation that MAPLE can successfully transmit energy to receivers in space. We were also able to program the array to direct its energy to the Earth, which we received here at Caltech. We have tested it on Earth, of course, but now we know it can work in space,” commented Ali Hajimiri, co-director of the Space Solar Power Project (SSPP).
The MAPLE prototype is installed on the SSPD-1 space satellite, which was launched into orbit in January 2023. The device consists of two panels that collect solar energy, and then transmitters send it to a given distance using constructive and destructive obstacles. Inside MAPLE, this energy is converted into direct current electricity.
“As far as we know, no one has ever demonstrated wireless power transmission in space, even with expensive rigid structures. We are doing it with flexible lightweight structures and our own integrated circuits. This is a first,” said Hajimiri.
In one experiment, American scientists used electricity to power two LEDs. They also demonstrated high accuracy of energy transmission by lighting “light bulbs” one by one, turning on one or the other transmitter. MAPLE also has a window that allows transmitters to send energy outside the spacecraft, such as to the Earth.
“Just as the Internet has made information accessible to everyone, we hope that wireless energy transmission will simplify access to energy,” Hajimiri said in a press release. “No infrastructure is needed on Earth to generate this power. This means we can send energy to remote regions and areas devastated by war or natural disaster.”
Space solar power makes it possible to use virtually unlimited solar energy reserves in outer space, where energy is constantly available and does not depend on the cycles of day and night, season, and cloud cover, potentially providing eight times more energy than solar panels anywhere else. Earth’s surface. As part of the SSPP, researchers plan to deploy a constellation of modular spacecraft in orbit that will collect sunlight, convert it into electricity, and then transmit it in the form of microwaves over long distances.
