NASA’s Space Solar Program Focuses On Cutting Costs

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The new documentary Bright Harvest: Powering Earth From Space has brought the painstaking labwork of space solar to the big screen, creating a minor buzz across the Intertubes over the prospect of beaming solar energy down to receivers on Earth for firm, reliable, 24/7 clean power regardless of the weather. The film spotlights the pioneering space-to-Earth work under way at Caltech, but a fresh burst of activity is also stirring in the area of distributed space-to-space solar applications.

NASA To Space Solar Fans: Hmmm…

The Caltech space program launched in 2013 with a $100 million assist from anonymous donors, later revealed to be Caltech Board of Trustees members David and Brigitte Bren (see more Caltech space background here).

By 2015, activity in the field was already beginning to heat up in the US, with the US Navy and Northrup Grumman among the parties interested in beaming solar energy down to the Earth from space. Other space R&D hotspots emerged in the UK and elsewhere around the globe over the ensuing years, with China being the latest to pile on.

High profile investors have begun crowding into the field of late, too, including Robin Hood co-founder Baiju Bhatt, who launched the space solar firm Aetherflux last year. In recent months, data center stakeholders have also teased the idea of sending their energy-sucking systems into space, where natural cooling is available along with 24/7 solar power.

Conspicuously absent from the space solar field is NASA. In April of 2024, the space agency’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy threw a wet blanket over the topic, affirming that space solar does not meet its threshold for priority investments, at least not in the area of space-to-Earth transmission.

Still, OTPS also reminded everyone that NASA has already set the wheels in motion to level up the adjacent field of distributed space solar power, referring to space-to-space systems. And, elements of those systems could find their way into space-to-Earth applications. For example, in August researchers at Kings College London assessed the state of technology and indicated that NASA’s Heliostat Swarm and Planar Array systems could be called into play for space-to-Earth beaming, though not any time soon.

“The heliostat design is in the early stages of development but has higher potential to continuously capture solar energy, whereas the simpler planar array is closer to being technologically ready but can only capture solar energy around 60% of the time,” the research team observed.

Cutting The Cost Of Space Solar

Despite the long arm of the Trump budget chopper, NASA has continued to pursue next-level technologies that support its distributed space solar goals. In June, for example, the Colorado-based startup Ascent Solar Technologies sealed a Collaborative Agreement Notice with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. The CAN project involves deploying Ascent’s CIGS thin film solar modules to beam power from one point in space to another. NASA Glenn Research Center is also supporting the project.

“This 12-month technology maturation will result in commercial products being made available for distributed space power infrastructure, drastically lowering the cost, complexity and risk of NASA missions,” Ascent notes. In a press statement, the firm also drew attention to NASA’s Psyche Mission which has validated space beaming technologies at distances of up to 19 million miles.

“Bench-testing conducted by NASA MSFC in 2024 demonstrated receiving beamed power using Ascent’s commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) products as a preceding validation of the technology prior to the CAN award,” Ascent noted.

Ascent estimates that its CIGS cells can receive 10 times more power in space than they can on Earth, slashing the mass and volume required of distributed space solar arrays down to the bone.

“In practice, this suggests that beamed-power architectures can lead to reductions of both spacecraft mass and volume budgets,” Ascente emphasized, adding “this could lead to an order of magnitude reduction in the downmass required to access expensive space exploration and science mission destinations.”

If all goes according to plan, the CAN project will support NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services branch as well as the Artemis Moon mission and scientific research programs. “This cross-NASA-center teaming is demonstrative of rallying together with commercial partners to achieve the agency’s broader Lunar program goals. Beamed power stands to allow NASA program dollars to accomplish more at a fraction of the cost,” Ascent explained.

Expanding The Field Of Beam-Able Power

The distributed space solar power field is a natural extension of Ascent’s 40-year experience leading to the development of featherweight CIGS solar “sails.”  In a recent update to its FAQ page, the company indicates that the distributed area is wide open for commercialization, though significant challenges block any consequential deployment of space-to-Earth solar beaming in the near future.

Nevertheless, work in the space-to-Earth field continues apace. Keep an eye on newcomer Aetherflux. Last April the company nailed down $50 million in Series A funding. with Index Ventures and Interlagos in the lead and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, Vlad Tenev, Dan Gallagher, Jared Leto, Laurent and François-Paul Journe among the participants.

In a related technology development, check out the Defense Department’s “POWER” Earth-to-Earth power beaming project. The program falls under DARPA, the Defense Department’s office for funding transformational, high risk, high reward systems, and it represents a significant advancement over wireless EV charging and other remote energy transfer technologies.

In May the POWER program reported that a test of new receiver technology set several records for power beaming, including the delivery of more than 800 watts for 30 seconds from a laser more than five miles away. That was a next-level improvement over the previously reported record of 230 watts for 25 seconds, for a distance of about one mile.

“These tests, referred to as PRAD (POWER Receiver Array Demo), mark an important step towards the POWER program’s long-term goal of being able to instantly beam power from a location where it can be easily generated to wherever it’s needed, opening a novel design space for platform capabilities unbounded by fuel limitations,” DARPA observed.

If the reference to “easily generated” sounds like DARPA is already considering solar applications, that’s not necessarily so. However, solar power plants and small scale, transportable solar arrays do fit into the POWER goal of freeing up military operations from the burden of transporting conventional fuels. In a recap of the May tests, the US Naval Research Laboratory noted that beaming technology can introduce power into “remote locations without traditional infrastructure,” making it a “potential game changer for defense, humanitarian assistance, and space applications.”

There’s that space thing again. If you have any thoughts about that, drop a note in the comment thread.

Image (cropped): The space solar field is branching out in all directions, with commercial space-to-space applications in the near future followed by the space-to-Earth beaming technology envisioned by researchers at CalTech. (courtesy of poweringearthfromspace.com via prnewswire.com).