Here is a paper written by Virtus Solis, Space based solar power startup. Virtus Solis is a funded startup working to develop space based solar power. They would leverage the low cost launch of the SpaceX Starship and modular satellites to enable power to be beamed from space at lower cost than coal or natural …
Silicon Valley startup Orbital Composites and Michigan-based Virtus Solis Technologies announced plans Feb. 1 to conduct a 2027 space-based solar power demonstration. The 2027 mission is designed to showcase critical power-generation technologies including in-space assembly of solar panels and transmission of more than one kilowatt to Earth. The 2027 mission will be a precursor to …
New South Wales, Australia, reached a record high and more efficient critical milestone temperature of 803 °C for concentrated solar thermal energy storage. Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight, converting it to heat, which can then be stored or used to generate electricity. Heated ceramic particles act like a battery, storing energy …
NASA NIAC is funding Coflow Jet to analyze a novel global mobility Mars exploration platform, Mars Aerial and Ground Intelligent Explorer (MAGGIE). MAGGIE is a compact fixed wing aircraft with ultra-high productivity efficiency powered by solar energy to fly in the Martian atmosphere with vertical take-off/landing (VTOL) capability, which is enabled by advanced deflected slipstream …
Humanity needs to simplify the technology and products for our civilization but make them fully scalable and self-replicating. The technologies that we pick to scale need to be ones that we can increase to a thousand times our current levels with manageable pollution and side-effects at those scales. We will soon have billions or trillions …
A near term laser ablation of micropellets can be made to rapidly accelerate one ton space probes to reach Pluto in one year. The NASA New Horizons launched in 2006 took 9.5 years to reach Pluto and weighed a little less half of a ton. A ten megawatt laser system in geosynchronous could accelerate a …
Marginal cost of energy by 2030 will approach ~$0.005/kWh. This is about ten times less than most of the energy today. It is essentially making power free and abundant. The big issue will be the realized cost of this energy and will demonstrate, especially in the US, the decrepit and costly delivery infrastructure from the …
China expects to raise the share of non-fossil fuels in its total energy mix to 18.3% in 2023, up from 17.5% in 2022, as part of its energy transition push, the country’s energy regulator said late-April 12. China’s non-fossil based power generation capacity — which includes solar, wind, hydro and nuclear — was about 1,270 …
Electrical engineer Ali Hajimiri explains the principles behind wireless energy transfer and shares his far-out vision for launching flexible solar panels into space in order to collect sunlight, convert it to electrical power and then beam it down to Earth. Learn how this technology could power everything — and light up our world from space. …
Caltech Space Solar Power Project (SSPD) launched into orbit a prototype to beam power to Earth and has transmitted power from orbit to another receiver in orbit. They confirmed that MAPLE can transmit power successfully to receivers in space. They have also been able to program the array to direct its energy toward Earth, which …
Virtus Solis is a funded startup working to develop space based solar power. They would leverage the low cost launch of the SpaceX Starship and modular satellites to enable power to be beamed from space at lower cost than coal or natural gas power. Twenty five thousand 1-kilowatt solar power modules would be launched in …