Image: A space solar power station. Credit: John Mankins

The National Space Society (NSS) congratulates NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) on the completion of its new report entitled “Space-Based Solar Power” on January 11. The report “evaluates the potential benefits, challenges, and options for NASA to engage with growing global interest in space-based solar power (SBSP), [which] entails in-space collection of solar energy, transmission of that energy to one or more stations on Earth, conversion to electricity, and delivery to the grid or to batteries for storage.”

NSS has been a leading advocate of space-based solar power since it was first studied in the 1970s. Solar power from orbit promises to provide continuous, clean, affordable, and plentiful power, and executed properly, could exceed global needs without resource depletion. It is clearly the leading technology for clean energy in the 21st century.

While NASA’s report was generally encouraging, it stopped short of a thorough examination of the real costs and promise of space-based solar power technology. NSS has supported the study of the overall problem, and specifically the economics of design, construction, and launch deployment, for decades.

“NSS welcomes the recognition of the importance of space solar power in the OTPS report and looks forward to providing input to NASA to clarify and enhance the conclusions,” said Dale Skran, NSS COO.

John Mankins, a leader in SBSP technology and design since the 1970s, said, “Space solar power is one of a handful of feasible globally-scalable energy solutions that could be advanced in the mid-term. NASA’s report identifies the importance of solving key challenges such as the launch, assembly and maintenance of large space systems in orbit that are essential to space solar and other ambitious goals.” Mankins worked at NASA for decades, was an early leader in SBSP studies, and continues to develop and advocate for space-based solar power through his company, Mankins Space Technology, as well as through his positions with the International Academy of Astronautics’ Permanent Committee on Space Solar Power and on the Board of Directors for NSS.

NSS feels that the NASA OTPS report, while a welcome revisiting of a technology that was first conceived in the U.S., offers an incomplete assessment of the viability of space-based solar power as a solution to the world’s rapidly expanding energy needs. There are a number of new technologies that make SBSP a leading candidate in our efforts to mitigate climate change than might be gathered from this report.

Specifically, the economics of the report can be improved dramatically by a number of launch capabilities currently under development. Should SpaceX’s Starship, for example, reach even a fraction of its projected capability, it should offer launch costs far lower than even the most optimistic assumptions of the report. Additionally, added Skran, “the exclusion of ion rockets in the baseline model for lifting the solar power satellites from low Earth orbit to geosynchronous orbit greatly and unreasonably increased the report’s estimates of both launch costs and related emissions into the atmosphere.” Including these emerging launch technologies could significantly improve the outlook toward space solar power as a carbon-free energy source once deployed.

Finally, the report based its findings on a ten-year life span for the orbital power stations, far short of the 30-year (and possibly much longer) duration suggested by Mankins’ detailed analyses.

There is more to report on the promise of space-based solar power as a solution to our planet’s expanding energy needs. For more on this critical clean energy source, see the NSS Space Solar Power initiative.

NSS and the space community (and for that matter, the world) owes a big thanks to California Representative Kevin Mullin for introducing and getting passed an amendment in the House Science Committee to add space solar power to a list of areas in which NASA and the Department of Energy should coordinate research and development. NSS ran a Political Action Alert on this subject and provided Congressman Mullin with a copy of the NSS Position Paper on Clean Energy from Space: Has Space Solar Power’s Time Come?

More information can be found in the excellent article by Eric Berger in Ars Technica, For the first time in decades, Congress seems interested in space-based solar power. Here is an excerpt:

Before its passage, the amendment was supported by several space advocacy groups, including the Alliance for Space Development, Space Frontier Foundation, and National Space Society. “This is the first time since the 1970s that the idea of space solar power has been addressed in legislation,” said Jonathan Dagle, a policy manager for the National Space Society. He characterized the amendment as “a small but significant victory.”

The other advance was the widely-covered announcement June 1 by Caltech of a demonstration “to wirelessly transmit power in space and to beam detectable power to Earth for the first time.”

See the Caltech press release for more information.

Thursday, March 23, 2023, 9:00 pm to 10:15 pm EST

“Space Solar Power: The Future is Here…”

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The concept of Space Based Solar Power (SBSP) has been around for many years and NSS, with one of its primary goals being “Clean Energy from Space: Enabling Everyone to Benefit from Space Solar Power” has been and the forefront of promoting the concept. Programs are now ongoing in Japan, China, the UK and ESA, while research continues in South Korea, Australia and elsewhere. In the US, there is no program as yet, however NASA is assessing space solar power and research for military applications is underway at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

With all of these new efforts to advance the concept, this is the perfect time for our space forum to take another look at SBSP. Join us for an informative discussion with these two leading SBSP experts. You will learn what SBSP is, how it works, including how it differs from solar collection methods on the Earth’s surface and the advantages. You will hear about SBSP applications and the newest technologies. And Mr. Barnhard and Mr. Mankins will conclude by laying out a path forward to deploying operational SBSP systems that truly demonstrate “The Future is Here . . .” Register now for the space forum using the link below.  

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Gary Barnhard, a self-described synergistic technological philanthropist, entrepreneur, and serial venture capitalist now serving as the President & CEO of Xtraordinary Innovative Space Partnerships, Inc. (XISP-Inc), a start-up company focused on Cislunar technology mission development work as well as Barnhard Associates, LLC, a systems engineering consulting firm and Internet Service Provider (Xisp.net). His recent Technology Development, Demonstration, and Deployment (TD³ ) mission development work includes Space Solar Power. He received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Maryland College Park in 1982, combining Aerospace Engineering, Materials Science with graduate work in science policy, solar physics, and artificial intelligence/knowledge-based systems. Gary is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA, a National Space Society (NSS) life member, prior CEO, prior Executive Director, NSS Board of Director’s member, and NSS Director of Strategic Relationships.

John C. Mankins is an entrepreneur and internationally recognized leader in technology,  systems innovation and management. He is the Founder and President of Mankins Space Technology, Inc. and Artemis Innovation Management Solutions LLC, a Director of Solar Space Technologies, Pty. Ltd. He also serves as Vice President of the Moon Village Association and as a Dean and Professor at Kepler Space University. He served as Chief Technologist for Human Exploration and Development of Space at NASA and a lead for NASA’s Lunar Outpost team in 2003, and he has been recognized as the leading expert in the field of space solar power. John’s 25-year career at NASA and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory ranged from flight projects and space mission operations to systems-level innovation and R&D. Mankins holds undergraduate (HMC) and graduate (UCLA) degrees in Physics and an MBA in Public Policy Analysis (The Drucker School). John is a member of the NSS Board of Directors.

Register today to reserve your seat and ask your questions. Use the link below.

Register for this Space Forum

Register no later than March 23 at 8 pm EST

Past NSS Space Forums and Town Halls may be viewed here.

By Al Globus, NSS Board of Directors

Somewhat simplified, Space Solar Power (SSP) consists of gathering sunlight energy in space, converting this energy to microwaves, and beaming them to Earth.

This energy is freely available in Earth orbit in vast quantities.

This energy would be low carbon today, most of the carbon coming from launch, and in a future with lunar or asteroid materials the space component would put almost no burden on Earth’s environment.

Outages would be rare, short, and completely predictable far in advance. This helps make SSP energy suitable for base load energy requirements.

Until recently studies of SSP all came to the same conclusion: SSP is technically feasible but the cost of energy would be far greater than for terrestrial systems.

The cost factor appears about to change. Multiple orders of magnitude reduction in SSP costs are projected over the next decade or two, given reasonable levels of research and development. This flows from three critical areas: launch, hyper modular designs, and robotic assembly inspection and repair:

1. Launch cost. A new generation of large reusable boosters, especially the SpaceX Super Heavy in test now, are projected to be multiple orders of magnitude less expensive than the space shuttle was per kg launched to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This is achieved by reusing essentially all of the vehicle, assembly-line-like production, and using a very large booster. Large boosters are generally cheaper per kg than small ones. The next few years are quite likely to drop launch costs from around $10,000 to $20,000 per kilogram in the shuttle era to perhaps as little as an aspirational $100/kg with the SpaceX Super Heavy Booster. Even if off by a great deal this would still revolutionize SSP costs.

2. Hyper modular systems. Hyper modular systems consist of very large numbers of modules of a small number of types. As an example, large communication satellite constellations use many thousands of small satellites as opposed to a few large powerful ones. In this case the modules are the small satellites. Back of the envelope calculations suggest that at least one constellation of small modular satellites under construction is about 100x less expensive per kg to manufacture than large non-modular communication satellites. This is achieved by taking advantage of economies of scale when producing thousands or even millions of identical modules. This can support orders of magnitude manufacturing cost reduction via automation in a factory environment rather than hand work in a laboratory-like environment. Some modern designs for SSP satellites involve in-space assembly of up to two million modules for a single 2GW SSP satellite. This, in turn, supports economies of scale in manufacturing the modules even for a single SSP satellite, at least for the most numerous module types. A fleet of SSP satellites would involve hundreds of millions of modules.

3. Robotic assembly, inspection, and repair. The current state of the art in satellite in-space construction is teleoperation of large robotic arms on the ISS (International Space Station). This works well but must be combined with space suited astronauts to do what the robots currently cannot. People are notoriously expensive to maintain in space so improving robotics to the point of eliminating the human EVA (Extravehicular Activity) and on-orbit teleoperation can be expected to have a large positive effect on SSP cost. Large SSP satellites can utilize a carefully designed workspace to facilitate automated robotic operations. This eases the design requirements for the assembly robots because the resulting tasks are relatively simple, just as the tasks for automated warehouses with driverless forklifts are much simpler than for driverless cars on public roadways.

There are many other aspects of SSP cost that are not explored here. The intent is to identify the big drivers where order of magnitude improvement may be available. If all goes well the next decade or so may be very exciting. If SSP development succeeds the activity will likely spark huge development of orbital infrastructure and bring great power and wealth to whomever plays a valuable role.

Oh yeah, there will also be vast supplies of clean, inexpensive energy for everyone too.

Ad astra!

Image: SPS-ALPHA concept courtesy John C. Mankins.

Space Solar Power (SSP) is receiving renewed worldwide attention as the projected cost has dropped by orders of magnitude in recent years due to the pending advent of SpaceX’s Starship, hyper-modular designs allowing mass production of components, and robotic assembly.

SSP was prominently featured throughout the NSS 40th Annual International Space Development Conference® (ISDC® 2022) held at Hyatt Crystal City Hotel, Arlington, Virginia, from May 26-29, 2022. This year’s SSP events included the Space Solar Power Symposium, the International Space Solar Power Student Project Competition, and ISDC Space Solar Power Policy Panel. The SSP coverage included national programs, commercial investments, university research programs, non-profit organization projects, and inspired individuals who bring unique talents/resources.

This year’s Space Solar Power Symposium was organized by Gary P. Barnhard and John C. Mankins. We are pleased to present some of the slide presentations (and some videos) here:

Keynote address:

• Space Solar Power: An Overview – John C. Mankins, President Mankins Space Technology

National Programs:

• USA: Naval Research Lab (NRL) – Elias Wilcoski/NRL
• Video: NRL Video Library (9 Videos)
• USA: Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) – James Winter & Melody Martinez/AFRL
• Video: Space Solar Power Incremental Demonstrations and Research Project (SSPIDR)
• Video: From Science Fiction to Reality with Space Solar Power Beaming (Northrop Grumman) “At Northrop Grumman, we are making the science fiction of the 1940s into reality. Space Power Beaming has the potential to provide power anywhere on Earth at any time by harnessing the Sun’s energy in a new and creative way, ultimately supporting locations around the world that don’t have access to the energy they need. Working together with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and Department of Defense, we are on the leading edge of defining possible and maturing technology to convert solar power to RF energy and transmit it down to Earth.”
• UK: The Space Energy Initiative – The UK approach to developing Space-Based Solar Power – Dave Homfray/Satellite Applications Catapult (reports and additional material at spaceenergyinitiative.org.uk)
• EU: European Space Agency (ESA) – Leopold Summerer
• Japan: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) – Koji Tanaka/JAXA
• China: China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) – Xinbin Hou

Commercial/Academic Programs & Projects:

• SPS Alpha – John Mankins (see keynote above)
• Cassiopeia – Ian Cash/International Electric Company Limited
• End-to-End Frequency Agnostic Remote Power & Ancillary Services – Gary Barnhard/XISP-Inc
• How to Finance Space-Based Solar Power and the Impact of Blended Financing – Kevin Barry/Light Bridge
• Always On Solar Power – Edward Tate & John Bucknell/Virtus Solis
• Collapsing Electric Power Grid Reliability and Economics – Darel Preble/Space Solar Power Institute
• Space Technology as a Key Element of Rational, Effective Climate Policy – Paul Werbos/Independent Researcher

The International Space Solar Power Student Competition is a global, undergraduate and graduate level annual event, now in its sixth year, presented by SPACE Canada in partnership with the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) Power Committee, National Space Society (NSS), and the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC). The 2022 presentations were:

• Indian Team: Assembly of Space Based Solar Power Satellite using Space Robotics – Sejal Jain, Prathmesh Barapatre
• USA Team (University of Maryland): Electric Vehicle Power Beaming – Neil Sorkin
• Scottish Team: Financing Strategy for Phase 1 of the SPG Architecture – Narthana Arumugam
• Portuguese Team (University of Aveiro): Energy Mules: A novel solar power satellite system architecture capable of energy storage – Ricardo A. M. Pereira, Helena Ribeiro, Henrique Chaves, and Matilde Monteiro. Faculty Advisors: Nuno Borges Carvalho, and Sandra F. H. Correia
• Italian Team: Orbital Recharge in Space – Lopez Francesco, Mauro Anna, Monteleone Giuseppe, Sfasciamuro Domenico Edoardo, and Villa Andrea
• Japanese Team: Feasibility study of a large-scale WPT system formed by a modular structure – Yusuke Kishida, Takahiro Ohnisi, Miki Kaneko, Shuji Higashigawa, Tomohiro Ebisawa, Yudia Fujii, and Hotaka Yamada. Supervisor: Koji Tanaka (SOKENDAI, ISAS/JAXA)

“NASA to reexamine space-based solar power”

A Friday morning talk by Nikolai Joseph of NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy resulted in the above headline in a Space News article on May 28, which reported:

[Joseph] said the agency was beginning a short-term study evaluating the prospects of space-based solar power, or SBSP, the first by the agency in about two decades. “As the technology has evolved, the feasibility of the system has changed over time,” he said. “This study is going to assess the degree to which NASA should support space-based solar power”…. Advances in several technical areas, Joseph said, give the agency reason to at least reexamine the feasibility of SBSP. “The elephant in the room is launch costs, and launch has become significantly more accessible. That completely changes the way we look at this,” he said. Other areas that have seen advances include thermal systems, electronics, materials and solar panels…. The goal is to finish the study and present it at the International Astronautical Congress in Paris in September.

SSP Background

The ability to provide power and ancillary services when and where needed is essential to virtually all aspects of human endeavor. It is enabling for any form of space development/settlement. Space solar power technology promises to be one of the few energy generation options that can provide dispatchable power that can scale dramatically. While Space Solar Power is not a panacea, it can be an integral part of the mix of environmentally benign solutions needed to meet worldwide electrical energy demand both on the planet and off. Using space solar power and allied technologies to foster an expanding space economy and sphere of human influence – a cooperative, collaborative, and competitive ecosystem of entities engaged in space development – is a path to achieving the “promise of the future.” That sphere of human influence will initially be the “Cislunar Marketplace“.

For more information and support:

• NSS Space Solar Power page
• NSS Space Solar Power Library
• Donate to NSS Space Solar Power advocacy campaign
• Join NSS Political Action Network

Personal observations

• Numerous technical/engineering/design issues will need to be prioritized, addressed, and resolved before international stakeholders can begin to consider SSP transmission frequencies, geopolitical conflict of interests, and consortium management.
• Need one or more government led consortiums to blend and leverage government and commercial financial management, funding, oversight, etc. Initial international consortium could include US, Canada, EU, UK, Japan, and Korea for blending climate change and energy security goals. But innovative program administration features must be required to insure proper program oversight and transparency. Strict controls and oversight will be needed to manage schedules and costs to avoid it being a one of a kind super-expensive project.
• Consider publishing material with build-a-world.org and IEEE PES books (Digital Library on Power and Energy).
• Need intelligent grid controls and energy storage solutions.
• Consider CITIgroup forecast analysis re commercial space, PPP, SSP, etc.
• Logic dictates that we recognize that SSP and the survival of humanity are linked.
• Need U.S. bi-partisian sponsors (e.g., Problem Solvers Caucus) for a Congressional committee to hold SSP hearings, with assurance that the committee membership is diverse and that the hearing witnesses include appropriate stakeholder representatives.
• I suggest launching NSS fundraising and/or strategic planning project to address SSP and related power beaming and cis-lunar issues, as well as look at potential collaboration between NSS and other organizations.

Comments would be appreciated.

On behalf of the National Space Society (NSS), we invite you to participate in the Space Solar Power Symposium of the 40th Annual International Space Development Conference® (ISDC® 2022) at Hyatt Crystal City Hotel, Arlington, Virginia, U.S.A., from May 26-27, 2022 as well as the rest of the Conference May 27-29, 2022 (http://isdc2022.nss.org). The ability to provide power and ancillary services when and where needed is essential to virtually all aspects of human endeavor. It is enabling for any form of space development/settlement. Space solar power technology promises to be one of the few energy generation options that can provide dispatchable power that can scale dramatically. While Space Solar Power is not a panacea, it can be an integral part of the mix of environmentally benign solutions needed to meet worldwide electrical energy demand both on the planet and off.

Using space solar power and allied technologies to foster an expanding space economy and sphere of human influence, the “Cislunar Marketplace” – a cooperative, collaborative, and competitive ecosystem of entities engaged in space development is a path to achieving the “promise of the future.” The combination of contributors, including national programs, commercial investments, university research programs, non-profit organization projects, inspired billionaires, and individuals who bring unique talents/resources, bias the opportunities towards success.

This year’s Space Solar Power Symposium will be a multidisciplinary dynamic forum focusing on understanding the current endeavors and engaging the technical audience in a collaborative discussion of approaches to achieving modular end-to-end Space Solar Power Systems for different venues. The Symposium will draw out opportunities for coordination, cooperation, collaboration, and competition as we advance. The Space Solar Power Symposium begins Thursday at 9:00 am, May 26th, 2022 (the day before ISDC 2022 formal opening). The symposium agenda includes:

• Space Solar Power Contributor Presentations,
• International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) Space Solar Power Committee is kicking off an ongoing collaborative architectural charrette / white board session on different modular approach of an end-to-end system and reverse engineering paths to fielding the same,
• Space Solar Power Policy Panel, in conjunction with the Space Policy track, and
• 2022 International Space Solar Power Student Competition presentations of new research in the field

The symposium schedule is attached.  Schedule updates will be posted on the ISDC 2022 website URL: http://isdc2022.nss.org

• You will need to complete your conference registration at the following URL: https://isdc2022.nss.org/
• Please make your hotel reservations as soon as possible.

The annual ISDC conference is part of NSS’s ongoing local, regional, national, and international efforts to foster humanity’s progress onward and upward as a spacefaring civilization. The conference programming – including summits, symposia, workshops, and networking opportunities – emphasizes the people, tools, and skills needed to expand civilization into space. For the latest conference updates, additional hotel information, and other event details, please visit the conference website at http://isdc2022.nss.org.

SYMPOSIUM AGENDA

Thursday, May 26th, 2022

• 8:00 am ISDC/Symposium Registration*
• 8:30 am Opening Remarks – John C. Mankins & Gary P. Barnhard, Co-chairs
• 9:00 am National Programs
  • Naval Research Lab (NRL) – Elias Wilcoski /NRL (or alternate)
  • Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) – Peter Garretson**/AFPC
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration – See Friday
  • Space Energy Initiative (UK) – Martin Soltau**/Frazer-Nash è Live Virtual Presentation
  • Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) – Koji Tanaka/JAXA
  • European Space Agency (ESA) – Leopold Summerer è Live Virtual Presentation
  • China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) – Xinbin Hou** (or alternate)) è Live Virtual Presentation
• 12:00 n Working Lunch
  • Box/Buffet lunch*
• 1:00 pm Commercial/Academic Programs & Projects
  • SPS Alpha – John Mankins/Mankins Space Technology
  • Cassiopeia – Ian Cash**/International Electric Company Limited (or alternate) è Live Virtual Presentation
  • End-to-End Frequency Agnostic Remote Power & Ancillary Services – Gary Barnhard/XISP-Inc
  • How to Finance Space Based Solar Power and the Impact of Blended Financing — Kevin Barry/Light Bridge
  • Micro & Millimeter Wave Beaming – Hooman Kazemi**/Raytheon Technologies
• Always On Solar Power – Edward Tate**/Virtus Solis
• Long Range Wireless Technology – Greg Kushnir**/Emrod
• Power Grid In Space – Keval Dattani**/Space Power
• A Comprehensive Outlook for Cis-Lunar Development, Space Solar Power, Energy, Our Environment and Earth’s Swiftly Changing Global Climate – Darel Preble/Space Solar Power Institute
• Space technology as a key element of more rational, effective climate policy – Paul Werbos/Independent Researcher
• 7:00 pm Group Dinner (Hotel Restaurant)
• 10:00 pm ISDC After-hours networking reception

Friday, May 27th, 2022

• 8:30 am Nikolai Joseph, Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy, NASA
• 10:00 am International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) Space Solar Power Committee’s introduction to the collaborative architectural charrette / whiteboard session on different modular approaches to an end-to-end systems and reverse engineering paths to fielding them.
• 12:00 n ISDC Lunch/Speaker*, Kathryn Lueders, Associate Administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate, NASA
• 2:00 pm Space Solar Power Policy Panel crossover with Space Policy track (Steve Wolf)
• 3:15 pm 2022 International Space Solar Power Student Competition presentations of new research in the field
• 6:00 pm ISDC Atrium Reception
• 7:00 pm NSS Governors’ Dinner*/Speaker, Jeff Greason, Chief Technologist & Co-Founder, Electric Sky
• 10:00 pm ISDC After-hours networking reception

* Please remember that all Symposium attendees must register separately for the ISDC 2022 conference, conference meals, special events, and lodging via the conference website at http://isdc2022.nss.org.  Please register as soon as possible to ensure availability.

** Invited but not yet confirmed.

The National Space Society (NSS) strongly supports Japan’s updated plan for space solar power, which calls for a low Earth orbit demonstration of a space solar power system that will use an orbiting satellite to generate power from the sun and send it back to Earth by 2025. This will be the first ever technical demonstration of space solar power transmitted back to Earth, which can ultimately provide limitless clean energy and help to wean society from polluting fossil fuels.

“Space solar power has the potential to deliver enormous quantities of clean, carbon-free energy to the people of Earth every day, 365 days a year,” said Dale Skran, NSS COO. “No new understanding of physics is needed, but we need to be spending money now to bring SSP to reality so that it can live up to its promise.”

The United Kingdom has developed a proposal to deliver its own operational space solar satellite by 2040. According to the UK plan, “Space-Based Solar Power is a renewable technology which provides continuous baseload power without intermittency and could be available at large scale. It therefore warrants further exploration as it could offer new options and contribute to the Net Zero pathways.” The plan notes that this new clean energy technology is technically feasible, environmentally sound, and will be affordable.

John Mankins, a recognized expert in space solar power, observed, “Traditionally space solar power has been seen as technically feasible but not economically competitive with other forms of electricity production. However, advances in robotics are expected to make construction and operation of large space systems much less expensive than using spacewalking astronauts, and a generation of large, low cost, reusable launch vehicles such as SpaceX’s Starship are fast approaching orbital flight status. Modular designs consisting of millions of pizza-box sized self-assembling ‘sandwich panels’ with solar cells on one side and transmitters on the other will bring economies of scale, making space solar power much more affordable than ever before.”

The new Japanese plan is unique, and mandates—as opposed to proposing—an end-to-end demonstration. Tokyo has studied this problem for decades; this will be a working technological demonstration to validate an entire system architecture in orbit. More information on Japan’s Basic Space Law can be downloaded from NSS here (in Japanese and English).

A major report from the State of the Space Industrial Base 2021 Workshop, held in New Mexico in July, was released on Wednesday. It outlined the critical importance of space development and human settlement, and incorporated input from 250 subject matter experts from industry, government, and academia. The report was published jointly by the Defense Innovation Unit, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and the U.S. Space Force. The National Space Society (NSS), NASA Administrator, and Space Force Chief of Space Operations support their new vision for America’s space efforts.

An important component of the report was the call to make the development and settlement of space a part of America’s national vision for space. NSS has long called for this national focus, and support from major components of the U.S. government is a huge step forward.

Karlton Johnson, Chairman of the NSS Board of Governors and retired Air Force Colonel, said, “This is a seminal report that highlights issues critical to humanity’s cislunar expansion while addressing vital challenges on Earth. Securing our country’s continued leadership in space, especially in the important domain of low Earth orbit, has far-reaching implications for the remainder of the 21st century. This is one of the many areas where the goals of NASA, National Defense, and NSS overlap, and this report is a timely push to move those goals forward.”

The report also highlights the potential contributions of space to healing our planet’s environment and calls for a national program for space solar power enabling the delivery of clean, emissions-free energy from space. NSS has supported space solar power as a key to a bright future in space for decades—an initiative pioneered in the U.S. in the 1970s. This initiative, reflected in a new NSS position paper on Clean Energy from Space: Has Space Solar Power’s Time Come?, could not be more urgent given the slow progress on low-carbon energy sources and the recent interest by U.S. friends and allies.

”Space Solar Power has the potential to provide abundant, zero-carbon energy for baseload power in the near future if the needed investments are made now,” said Dale Skran, NSS COO and Senior Vice President. “This important report recognizes that direction and incorporates it into a new vision of the space industrial base.”

The report also underscores the importance of constructing a “space superhighway” and cislunar economy using public-private partnerships and notes the importance of space hardware reusability and the orbital servicing and maintenance of space hardware. Both are critical to long-term success.

These are all important milestones reflected in the NSS Roadmap to Space Settlement.

Two power station designs were concluded to be technically and economically viable in the report—the hyper-modular SPS Alpha design by NSS Board member John Mankins and the SSP CASSIOPeiA design by Ian Cash of the UK. While SSP has been deemed technically viable for decades, recent projected reductions in cost make it appear to be inevitable.

Notably, the expense of launching items into space has dropped by a factor of 14 times since the space shuttle era and is expected to drop further when SpaceX’s Starship becomes operational. The cost of constructing space solar power satellites will also drop when the modules are built in volume. The new hyper-modular SSP designs take advantage of this, and the UK study calculates the projected cost using this approach to SSP to be competitive with other energy technologies.

Randy Gigante, NSS Policy Committee Chair, supports the phased approach outlined in the study. This includes a 500-megawatt demonstrator in orbit by 2032, and the connection of two gigawatts of SSP to the power grid by 2040. “The Frazer-Nash report suggests that, with an appropriate near-term R&D effort, the cost barrier for SSP can be broken,” Gigante said. “This can have a positive effect on climate change in general and net-zero emissions in particular.”

To maintain this schedule, the public sector would need to fund about 473 million dollars (350 million pounds) over the next five years to complete Phase 1 of the program. The UK Government has already established a one-billion-pound fund to accelerate the commercialization of low-carbon technologies, and proposals are being sought for dual-use technology development that could assist both space-based and Earth-based power systems. The current deadline for submission of ideas is November 1 and can be submitted here. More information will be forthcoming as part of the United Nations COP26 Climate Change conference in November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland.

See the NSS website for more information on space solar power.

A copy of the new UK report, “Space Based Solar Power: De-risking the Pathway to Net Zero,” is available in the online NSS Space Solar Power Library.

Image: Artist’s conception of the hyper-modular SPS Alpha design by John Mankins. Credit: John Mankins.

Space solar power (SSP) usually involves gathering energy in space, converting it into a microwave beam, and directing that beam at Earth to be converted into electricity. The National Space Society has promoted SSP for decades. A year or so ago the Alliance for Space Development made SSP one of its four legislative objectives, and in the last month the Beyond Earth Institute and the Progressive Policy Institute have made major moves promoting SSP, including a draft Presidential Policy Directive by Beyond Earth. Why this much interest now?

Because for many moons studies have found SSP to be technically sound, but too expensive to take off. That may be changing. In particular, two of the largest costs, launch and manufacturing, are dropping like a stone.

Launch

In 2011 the space shuttle flew its last flight in the midst of a long era of $20,000 per kg launch costs on mostly expendable boosters. Today (2021), the cheapest launch vehicle is the partially reusable SpaceX Falcon Heavy with an advertised launch price of around $1,400 per kg, a reduction of well over an order of magnitude. But there’s more.

SpaceX has been developing the fully reusable launch vehicle, Starship, with an estimated launch cost of somewhere around a few hundred dollars per kg, another order of magnitude reduction in cost if all goes well.  While SpaceX frequently misses deadlines they have consistently achieved their performance goals. They build and operate the most successful launch vehicle of our day, the partially reusable Falcon 9.

This suggests it is reasonable to expect a reduction in launch cost of around two orders of magnitude when compared to the shuttle era. But there is more.

Manufacturing

While launch costs are a major fraction of the economic problem faced by SSP, they are not the largest. Satellites are generally significantly more expensive than launch. Typical cost of a payload can range from a few thousand dollars per kg to 200 thousand per kg or more.  Such high prices reflect that space payloads traditionally are handcrafted one of a kind systems. To significantly reduce costs requires manufacturing large numbers of identical components to amortize automation and achieve other manufacturing economies of scale. The problem for SSP, a new source of power, is to get economies of scale when building the first operational powersat.

The communication satellite constellations are leading the way to the first step. They consist of thousands of identical, or nearly identical, spacecraft that conform to certain communication protocols. These spacecraft can be, and are, mass produced. For even a single constellation the number of satellites is large enough that one can get economies of scale. For the SpaceX’s Starlink constellation this difference in cost is about 100 to one. Again, two orders of magnitude cost reduction.  As you may have guessed, there is more.

The SPS-ALPHA (Solar Power Satellite by means of Arbitrarily Large Phased Array) design takes the next step, generating economies of scale in the manufacture of a single, albeit extremely large (km scale), satellite. SPS-ALPHA consists of more than a million modules of only 16 types, ~60,000 modules per type.  The list of types changes as the design matures, but for illustrative purposes, a few of these types might be:

1. An adjustable mirror module type that reflects sunlight onto an array of beam generation modules that take sunlight from one side, and emit microwaves via phased array from the other
2. A beam generator module type that converts sunlight to microwaves
3. A simple robot arm type that can work in groups to construct and repair the powersat by adding and removing modules
4. A module type with electric propulsion for station keeping and transferring the finished powersat from a construction site in Low Earth Orbit to operations in Geosynchronous.

In addition, there are a number of trusses. Using the trusses for structure, much like bones in our bodies, modules self-assemble in space in an environment designed for robotic construction and repair. The closest analogy is a robotic warehouse where robotic forklifts move pallets around, a much easier task than navigating on the surface of Mars, which is not designed for robotic exploration!

Conclusion

Mass production of modules combined with the cost reduction for launch that Starship promises may at long last close the SSP business case with a two orders of magnitude cost reduction in the most expensive parts of a spacecraft: launch and manufacture. This is why there is so much interest. Even if the business case does not completely close it will certainly take a giant step in the right direction and develop valuable technology in the process.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to John Mankins for most of the ideas and data in this piece.