The Ledger
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Vijendran: Central space solar beam will likely reach 200 watts per square meter
“Part of the beam, especially the central part of the beam, will likely be exceeding safety limits up to perhaps a couple of hundred watts per square meter.”
Vijendran: Full space solar system costs fell from $100B to $1B–$10B
“What was a hundred billion before, now you're looking at one to ten billion for a full system, depending on, on the scale you're looking at.”
Vijendran: Space solar becomes economically viable below $1,000 per kilo launch costs
“The cost benefit studies for space-based solar power have shown in the past that once you get to cost below A thousand dollars or a thousand euros per kilo to low Earth orbit, then you're getting into the ballpark where this could be economically viable.”
Vijendran: Mass production has reduced satellite hardware costs to ~$1,000/kg
“Mass production. Techniques to build space hardware, and that's brought the cost of space hardware down to of the order of thousand dollars or so per kilogram as well from where it used to be in order to magnitudes higher.”
China announces plans for gigawatt-scale space solar by 2050
“China has also in the last five years made announcements towards putting gigawatt scale Space-based solar power systems into orbit by 20 50 with demonstrations planned later this decade.”
Vijendran: Space solar physics is proven by 60 years of telecom satellites
“From a physics perspective in terms of what is exactly happening, going from sunlight all the way to electricity into the grid, every step along the way is something that we know how to do from a physics point of view. And we've been doing it already for 60 ye…”
Vijendran: Japan and US AFRL plan orbital power beaming demos in 2025
“And I think this is what is being planned by a number of people in 20, 25 timeframe, including the Japanese space agency the U S military, the air force research laboratory has a program that intends to put a demonstrator in orbit as well in that timeframe and…”
Vijendran: Space solar antennas must measure hundreds of meters to kilometers
“If you want to have a receiver that is of a reasonable size on the ground, that's not too large. Let's say a few kilometers in diameter, then you still need to have a, an antenna in space that is one to two kilometers in diameter, depending on the frequency, b…”
JPL and Raytheon beamed 30 kilowatts over one kilometer in the 1970s
“The Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Raytheon company in the 19 seventies in California, they did an experiment where they sent 30 kilowatts of power across a distance of over a kilometer and collected a lot of that power.”
Vijendran: Space solar beaming uses frequencies similar to Wi-Fi and mobile networks
“These intensity levels will be below the regulations and limits for such use of radio frequencies, which exists because we have these frequencies we use are similar to wifi and mobile phone systems.”