China and Space-Based Solar Power
Purpose: Alert regarding a potential new strategic competition in aerospace
Background: Space-Based Solar Power is a concept for orbiting very large satellites to collect
solar energy on orbit, and beam it to earth via lasers or microwaves.
Discussion: Recently, the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), a major design house
and research facility for the Chinese space ELINT program, has made a formal announcement of
a proposal to the Chinese government. This is the first such public announcement from China.
The principal spokesman, Profession Wang Xiji, a key drafter of the proposal has said: “China
has acquired sufficient technology and had enough money to carry out the most ambitious
space project in history. Once completed, the solar station, with a capacity of 100MW, would
span at least one square kilometre, dwarfing the International Space Station and becoming the
biggest man-made object in space,” and warned that if China “did not act quickly, China would
let other countries, in particular the US and Japan, take the lead and occupy strategically
important locations in space,” and that “Whoever takes the lead in the development and
utilization of clean and renewable energy and the space and aviation industry will be the world
leader” and that “the area of space and aviation is an emerging strategic industry and the
development of a space solar-energy station requires high-end technology” and “such a
station will trigger a technical revolution in the fields of new energy, new material, solar power
and electricity,” would “lead to the emergence of several industries...and possibly even an
industrial revolution.” CAST has a detailed 5 step plan to achieving the first commercial
SPS. “In 2010, CAST will finish the concept design; in 2020, we will finish the industrial level
testing of in-orbit construction and wireless transmissions. In 2025, we will complete the first
100kW SPS demonstration at LEO; and in 2035, the 100mW SPS will have electric generating
capacity. Finally in 2050, the first commercial level SPS system will be in operation at GEO.
A national goal to explore SBSP need not achieve the stated goal of affordable and infinite green
energy appropriate to city base-load electricity to be significant. The CAST authors state “The
acquisition of space solar power will require development of fundamental new aerospace
technologies, such as revolutionary launch approaches, ultra-thin solar arrays, on- orbit
manufacture / assembly / integration (MAI), precise attitude control, in-situ resource utilization
(ISRU) for deep space exploration and space colonial expansion.” Such technologies have direct
impact on space access, in-space maneuver, space control, and even force application.
It is clear the CAST proponents see SBSP in strategic terms: “Since SPS development will be a
huge project, it will be considered the equivalent of an Apollo program for energy. In the last
century, America's leading position in science and technology worldwide was inextricably
linked with technological advances associated with implementation of the Apollo program.
Likewise, as China's current achievements in aerospace technology are built upon with its
successive generations of satellite projects in space, China will use its capabilities in space
science to assure sustainable development of energy from space…it is necessary for China to
launch an SPS-type Apollo project to increase research and development investment in all
corollary fields. This will relate to the country's goal of attaining the leading position in both
energy and space technology” and that therefore, “the [Chinese] state has decided that power
coming from outside of the earth, such as solar power and development of…space energy
resources…is to be China's future direction.”
Recommendations: None
China and Space-Based Solar Power
SOURCE MATERIAL:
Space Agency Looks To Capture Sun's Power
By Stephen Chen [[email protected]]
Hong Kong South China Morning Post Online in English
Sep 3, 2011
A mainland space agency says the government should build solar power stations in space to solve China's
energy problems.
The China Academy of Space Technology, a research institute under the China Aerospace Science and Technology
Corporation, said on its website on Thursday that it had submitted a plan to the central government to build a
massive facility in space to capture solar power and relay it to earth to generate electricity.
Li Ming, deputy director of the academy, received enthusiastic feedback on the ambitious plan at a conference on
Wednesday that included senior officials from the National Development and Reform Commission, the National
Energy Administration and other agencies, the statement said.
The mainland is home to the world's largest manufacturing plants of solar panels, and with the bankruptcy of
three US manufacturers in the last month, mainland companies now dominate the world supply, accounting
for almost three-fifths of total capacity, a report in The New York Times said yesterday.
Economies of scale, low wages and technological advances have enabled Chinese companies to make solar panels
cheaply, firing up mainland space scientists' ambitions.
Professor Wang Xiji, a key drafter of the proposal, wrote an article in the Ministry of Science and
Technology newspaper Science Times saying that China had built up a solid industrial foundation, acquired
sufficient technology and had enough money to carry out the most ambitious space project in history.
Once completed, the solar station, with a capacity of 100MW, would span at least one square kilometre,
dwarfing the International Space Station and becoming the biggest man-made object in space, he wrote.
Wang said the solar station would overcome several shortcomings of earth-based plants, such as sensitivity to
weather, wasteful land use and a complete shutdown at night. Put in a permanent geostationary orbit, high
enough to escape most of the earth's shadow, it would provide a consistent energy supply for 99 per cent of the
year.
Wang warned that if it did not act quickly, China would let other countries, in particular theUS and Japan,
take the lead and occupy strategically important locations in space.
The US space agency Nasa proposed a solar power station as early as the 1960s, while Japan's Jaxa selected a
group of companies and researchers in 2009 to design and build the Space Solar Power System, a massive
array of photovoltaic panels, with an anticipated launch date of 2020.
But some scientists said a solar station in space faced technical hurdles that could not be solved by today's
technology. The problems include how to lift a large amount of construction materials into space, how to put them
together and how to transfer the energy to earth.
China and Space-Based Solar Power
Chinese space scientists are considering lasers and microwaves, generating concentrated beams that could travel
a long distance with relatively little energy loss. But they have not figured out how to protect people or birds that
might get in the way.
Professor Jiang Kaili, a physicist at Tsinghua University, said that in theory wireless energy transmission was
possible. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US had used strong resonate coupling
technology to transfer energy via a magnetic near-field with impressive efficiency.
"The range of transmission reaches a few metres," he said. "It will need to get out of a room before venturing to
space."
-------------------From: http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20110902000023&cid=1105
China unveils plan for solar power station in space
Chinese space technology pioneer Wang Xiji believes solar energy stations in outer space will be a
key energy resource in the future. (File Photo/CFP)
"The development of a solar power station in space will fundamentally change the way in which
people exploit and obtain power," Wang Xiji, a space technology pioneer at the China Academy of
Sciences, said while presenting the results of his team's research on developing such a station.
Speaking about China's ambitious space solar energy program, 90-year-old Wang said such a
station could promote international cooperation. "Whoever takes the lead in the development and
utilization of clean and renewable energy and the space and aviation industry will be the world
leader," Wang said at the fourth China Energy Environment Summit Forum on Aug 28.
The program will utilize existing technology to launch solar-collector satellites into geostationary orbit.
These satellites will convert the sun's radiation into electricity 24 hours a day,and safely transmit the
electricity via microwaves to rectifying antennas on Earth. The concept was first proposed by US space
expert Peter Glaser in 1968.
Currently, the United States, Japan, Europe and Russia have plans to invest several billion US dollars in
establishing their own 1 million-kilowatt power stations to begin operation between 2030 and 2040.
China has not yet taken its first step in this regard.
A team led by Wang completed research on the development, timelines and policy for space solar
power station technology in August. The program offers guidelines for developing such a station. It
aims to complete analysis of space solar power applications, detailed design of system solutions and
key technologies as well as key technologies for authentication by 2020. Under the plan, a space solar
energy station for commercial use will be completed by 2040.
Wang believes such a station will trigger a technical revolution in the fields of new energy, new
material, solar power and electricity.
Wang said the area of space and aviation is an emerging strategic industry and the development of
a space solar-energy station requires high-end technology. Such a program would lead to the
China and Space-Based Solar Power
emergence of several industries, Wang said. He believes it could lead to a technical revolution and
possibly even an industrial revolution.
China's solar energy stations down on planet Earth have developed rapidly. In 2010, the country's solar
photovoltaic power capacity was 800,000 kilowatts, while 168 million square meters of area used solarpowered water heating.
The government's 12th five-year plan also proposes increasing the country's solar photovoltaic power
generation capacity to 10 million kilowatts by 2015 and 20 million kilowatts by 2020.
It is estimated that a solar power stationin orbit could harness five times the solar energy captured
by stations on the ground.
Li Ming, a space technology expert said that after 50 years of development, China's space and aviation
industry has made significant progress and laid a sound foundation for a space solar power station.
References
Wang Xiji 王希季
Solar Power Satellites Research in China
Gao Ji, Hou Xinbin, and Wang Li
China Academy of Space Technology
Abstract
In its long-term vision, the responsibility for ensuring China's food safety for its huge population,
meeting its international obligations for environmental protection and providing the structure for
its energy needs have determined that the direction of future development of low-carbon energy
sources cannot be to sacrifice the "inner" earth. Thus, the state has decided that power coming
from outside of the earth, such as solar power and development of other space energy resources,
is to be China's future direction.
China and Space-Based Solar Power
Space based solar power (SBSP), and the development of solar power satellites (SPS) to
facilitate renewable energy production, is one of the "outside" approaches currently under
development in China. Based on China's future vision for energy development, this paper will
present why SPS development is important for China. A brief introduction to China's SPS project
is given.
Energy Status and Future in China
According to a report released by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in February 2009,
in 2008 China's total energy consumption reached 2.85 billion tons of standard coal, while its
electricity consumption reached 3.45 trillion KWh, a recorded 5.6% increase over the previous
year. The annual report on China' Energy Development, pointing to the prospect for future
energy demand, shows that in 2020, 2030 and 2050, China's total energy consumption of
standard coal will climb to 3.5 billion, 4.2 billion and 5.0 billion tons respectively. In 2050, about
85% of the growth in energy demand can feed from fossil fuels, from nuclear power, and from
hydropower. Only 30% of the remaining 15% of that growth in energy demand can be met the
energy by non-hydro renewable energy resources, such as wind power, bio-energy, terrestrial
solar power and tidal energy. That means that by 2050, despite China's continuing growth in
energy production based on traditional energy areas, there is a considerable energy gap (approx.
10.5%), for which the state must look to such newer energy producing approaches as fusion and
space power stations.
China and Space-Based Solar Power
Source: Annual Report on China's Energy Development
The Chinese Academy of Engineering's cautionary report has shown that the fossil energy
reserves in China, such as oil, coal and natural gas, will be exhausted in the next 15 years, 82
years and 46 years correspondingly. How to fix the perceived loss of traditional energy resources
has become an important problem for China's government. The CAE report also raises the
question of growing public concerns over higher fossil fuel prices. More recently, in a 2009
global environmental summit in Copenhagen, the Chinese government promised that by 2020
China's greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced to 40% compared with 2005. It suggests that
the government believes that continuing to develop energy resources and environment protection
are not internally inconsistent, and that low-carbon energy has a promising future in China.
Why SPS is important for China
Since 1968, when Dr. Peter Glaser proposed the first SPS scenario, the concept of solar power
satellites has been under consideration. During those 40-plus years, the renewable energy
requirement for electricity has been continuously going up. As one of the principal economies in
the world, China is thirsty for energy to water its blooming industries. SPS is regarded as a
reasonable path to energy production. Either from geostationary earth orbit (GEO) or in low
earth orbit (LEO), this type of power system will have more direct access to the power of the
sun. In analyzing the characteristics of SPS and space solar power applications, the China
China and Space-Based Solar Power
Academy of Space Technology (CAST) concludes that the advantages of SPS for China can be
grouped into three relevant directions: sustainable economic and social development, disaster
prevention and mitigation, and the retaining of qualified personnel and the cultivating of
innovative talents.
Sustainable development: With its population growth and rapid economic development, over the
next 30 years China will become one of the most powerful and influential economies of the
world. During this time, energy resources and environmental issues will be serious challenges for
China. To avoid the grave consequences and to learn lessons drawn from others' mistakes, a
sustainable development strategy will need to be adopted. This strategy can be expected to
include renewable energy sources from outside earth to alter the heavily reliance on fossil fuels,
a process that will contribute to world energy development and assure environment protection.
The acquisition of space solar power will require development of fundamental new aerospace
technologies, such as revolutionary launch approaches, ultra-thin solar arrays, on- orbit
manufacture/assembly/integration (MAI), precise attitude control, in-situ resource utilization
(ISRU) for deep space exploration and space colonial expansion. Since SPS development will be
a huge project, it will be considered the equivalent of an Apollo program for energy. In the last
century, America's leading position in science and technology worldwide was inextricably linked
with technological advances associated with implementation of the Apollo program. Likewise, as
China's current achievements in aerospace technology are built upon with its successive
generations of satellite projects in space, China will use its capabilities in space science to assure
sustainable development of energy from space.
Disaster prevention and mitigation: In 2005, Hurricane Katrina killed thousands of people in the
U.S. Meanwhile, every year several typhoons bother the east coast of China. From preliminary
research, it appears that microwave wireless power transmission may heat the top of the clouds,
thereby reducing the force of typhoons and hurricanes. In 2008, China's southern region
experienced a rare snowstorm; such an extreme weather attack led to a complete paralysis of the
entire southern power grid due to the frozen grid. Without wired power supplied, the economy of
the Southern provinces suffered heavy losses in the first few months of 2008. Again, if there had
been an operational SPS power system in China, wireless power transmission quite possibly
could have unfrozen the grid, and restored power to the region.
In May 2008, in the great Sichuan region, a deadly earthquake measured at 8.0 magnitude killed
thousands of lives. The most important steps to be taken in mitigating the effects of that
earthquake was to rebuild the human support system and provide an alternative communication
system, each of which depended on the reinstatement of power supply systems. As space satellite
systems can help to supply prompt restoration of terrestrial communications, and space solar
power systems can achieve wireless power transmission via microwave and laser beams, spacebased solutions would have been the fastest and most appropriate way to crack those problems.
Retaining and cultivating talent: China understands that having an innovative, qualified and
skilled workforce is the basic infrastructure on which national development can proceed. Higher
education in China is developing rapidly, but the state lacks talent at both ends of its research
lines, that is in advanced concept research and in basic/technical sciences research. Objectively
China and Space-Based Solar Power
and actually, these are currently greater problems than finding financial sources for research.
CAST is of the opinion that in order to attract more outstanding personnel and to generate a
magnetic field for attracting more college students into basic sciences and engineering, it is
necessary for China to launch an SPS-type Apollo project to increase research and development
investment in all corollary fields. This will relate to the country's goal of attaining the leading
position in both energy and space technology.
SPS Research in China
China's first SPS research started in the late 20th century. In the new millennium, when the
energy issue became a constraint on sustainable development in China, the China Academy of
Space Technology submitted to the government a "Necessity and Feasibility Study Report of
SPS." Later, an SPS concept design was activated, approved and funded by the Ministry of
Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). CAST's present SPS system oriented study is the
first to address its key components, and to define a baseline or reference system that will allow a
relatively accurate determination of mass and cost in China.
The CAST SPS research team conceives that there are four imperative sections for SPS
development: launching approach, in-orbit construction/multi-agents, high efficiency solar
conversion and wireless transmission. Except for launch, the other aspects do not seem to be
insurmountable issues for China in the upcoming years.
Based on China's SPS scenario, there are 5 steps to achieving the first commercial SPS system.
In 2010, CAST will finish the concept design; in 2020, we will finish the industrial level testing
of in-orbit construction and wireless transmissions. In 2025, we will complete the first 100kW
SPS demonstration at LEO; and in 2035, the 100mW SPS will have electric generating capacity.
Finally in 2050, the first commercial level SPS system will be in operation at GEO.
Conclusion
In order to meet China's increasing energy desires, space solar power will be sought after as an
inexhaustible energy source. Solar power satellites will play an increasingly significant role in
the environment protection associated with the various carbon emission reduction schemes. More
China and Space-Based Solar Power
and more, sustainable development will be linked to securing sun's energy as the boundless,
clean and reusable energy resource of the future.
REFERENCES
1.
Department of Energy Statistics of NBS. China Energy Statistical Yearbook 2008, Beijing: National Bureau of
Statistics.
2. Fenggan, Z., L. Ming, et al. "Solar Power Satellite - The Merge Between Space Future and New Energy." Space
China 200807.
3. Glaser, Peter E., Frank P. Davidson and Katinka Csigi, Solar Power Satellites. Wiley-Praxis Series in Space
Science and Technology, ed. J. Mason, 1996, New York: Wiley-Praxis Publishing.
4. Gokalp, I., Space Solar Energy: A Challenge for the European Community, in 53rd International Astronautical
Congress, 2002, International Astronautical Federation: Houston, Texas.
5. Koelle, H.H., An Experimental Program for Space Solar Power Development Compatible with Human Moon
And Mars Exploration, in 50th International Astronautical Congress, 1999, International Astronautical
Federation: Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
6. Laracy, Joseph R., Damien Bador, Danielle Adams and Annalisa Weigel, Solar Power Satellites: Historical
Perspectives with a Look to the Future, in AIAA SPACE 2007 Conference &amnp; Exposition, 2007, American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.,: Long Beach, California.
7. Minxuan, C., Annual Report on China's Energy Development (2009), Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press.
8. Nansen, R., Energy Crisis: Solution From Space, 2009, Ontario, Canada: Apogee Books.
9. Xiangwan, D., Summary Report, in China's Renewable Energy Development Strategies Series, 2008, Beijing:
China Academy of Engineering.
10. Xinbin, H. and W. Li. "The Current Status on Foreign Solar Power Satellites Development." Solar Energy
Journal (Chinese) 200910.
From:
http://goldsea.com/Text/index.php?id=11640
China Unveils Plan to Orbit Solar Power Station
A plan to build and orbit a Chinese solar energy station for commercial use by 2040 has been developed
by space technology pioneer Wang Xiji. The plan calls for a complete analysis of space solar power
applications, detailed design of system solutions and verification of key technologies by 2020.
“The development of a solar power station in space will fundamentally change the way in which
people exploit and obtain power,” said Wang while presenting the results of his team’s research at the
China Academy of Sciences.
“Whoever takes the lead in the development and utilization of clean and renewable energy and the space
and aviation industry will be the world leader,” said Wang at the fourth China Energy Environment Summit
Forum on Aug 28.
Wang, 90, believes such a station will trigger a technical revolution in the fields of new energy, new
material, solar power and electricity, and possibly even another industrial revolution.
Wang envisions the program using existing technology to launch solar-collector satellites into
geostationary orbit. These satellites would convert the sun’s radiation into electricity 24 hours a day and
safely transmit it via microwaves to rectifying antennas on Earth. The concept had first been proposed in
1968 by U.S. space expert Peter Glaser.
Currently, the U.S., Japan, Europe and Russia have plans to invest several billion dollars to establish a
number of 1 million-kilowatt power stations between 2030 and 2040.
Though China has taken no such steps for a space-based solar energy station, it has made rapid
progress in developing earth-based solar power. In 2010 China had 800,000 kilowatts of solar
China and Space-Based Solar Power
photovoltaic power capacity and 168 million square meters of area using solar-powered water heating.
China’s 12th five-year plan aims to boost the country’s solar photovoltaic power generation capacity to 10
million kilowatts by 2015 and 20 million kilowatts by 2020.
The efficiencies that can be realized by an orbiting solar power station would let it harness five times the
solar energy captured by comparable stations on the ground.
from: http://news.ifeng.com/mil/4/detail_2011_07/12/7634514_0.shtml
also discussed at Pakistan Defense: http://www.defence.pk/forums/china-defence/119745-chinas-spacesolar-power-station-million-tons-cost-up-1-trillion.html#post1946550
China's space solar power plant: thousands of tons cost up to $ 1 trillion
Source: Guangming Daily
Space solar power diagram (Figure)
Do you dare? Construction of power stations in space
The very large solar arrays placed in Earth orbit, composed of solar power stations, solar power plant
will be solar energy into electrical energy. American scientist Peter Glasgow in 1968 race (Peter Glaser)
first proposed the idea of space solar power station built, the basic idea is: the very large solar arrays
placed in Earth orbit, composed of solar power stations, will be inexhaustible , inexhaustible solar
China and Space-Based Solar Power
energy into thousands of megawatts of power, then electrical energy into microwave energy, and the
use of microwave or wireless transmission to Earth.
Energy conversion device converts electrical energy into a form of microwave or laser (laser or
directly through the solar energy conversion), and using the antenna beam can be sent to the
ground. Have information that, in theory, in the sunny geostationary orbit, each square meter of solar heat
can produce 1336 watts, if deployed in a geostationary orbit width of 1,000 meters of solar arrays ring,
assuming the conversion 100% efficiency, then it receives in the year is almost equal to the flux of
solar radiation on Earth are known to contain recoverable oil reserves of the total energy.
Ground receiving system receives the space solar power station can transmit to the beam, and
through the conversion device to convert it into electricity. The whole process has gone through solar
energy - electricity - microwave (laser) - Power of energy into the process. Space solar power plant
construction and operation of the process also need to include large-scale delivery systems, space
transportation systems, and complex logistics system.
China's development of space solar power station "four-step" scenario
Currently, the domestic space solar power station is still in its infancy stage.China Academy of Space
Technology in the space solar power station sponsored national seminar on the development of
technology, experts proposed the development of space solar power station in China "road
map." Summed up in four stages:
Phase I: 2011 and 2020
Full analysis of space solar power plant applications, space solar power station to carry out detailed
design of system solutions and key technologies, key technologies for authentication.
Verify wireless energy transmission technology focus, efficient high-power solar power technology,
launched large-scale structure of the assembly and high voltage power supply system, there are groundpower wireless energy transmission experiment, the ground started large-scale structure and assembly
technology, testing, to face the stratosphere airship wireless energy transmission experiment, relying on
the space station launched a large-scale structure and assembly technology testing.
China and Space-Based Solar Power
Space solar power station will be very huge objects, quality of tons or more. (Figure)
Phase II: 2021 -2025 years
Use of our space station platform, the participation of the astronauts to conduct China's first loworbit space solar power system development, system validation carried out in 2025. Focus on
verification of large deployable space structures and assembly of large space condenser system
and its control, power supply management system, large-scale structure of the attitude control
technology, wireless energy transfer technology (laser, microwave), space solar power plant
operation and maintenance management .
Phase III: 2026 -2040 years
In the low-orbit validation of key technologies on the basis of further research more economically and
technically viable space solar power system solutions and key technologies, breaking the track between
the high-power electric propulsion technology, developed by Earth's orbit validation system, about 2030
around the launch of the space - ground, space - space wireless energy transmission system to carry out
validation, the development of commercial systems provide important operating parameters. System
operating life of 10 years. Preliminary consideration of the system for their own space in the loworbit assembly, and the use of the space station and astronauts some assembly work, and solve
China and Space-Based Solar Power
problems in space assembly, assembly and testing is completed, the overall delivered to geosynchronous
orbit.
Phase IV: 2036 -2050 years
Combined with the operational status verification system, combined with technological development,
the development of China's first commercial space solar power systems, space solar power plant to
achieve commercial operation, operational life of 30 years.
Space solar power station faces huge challenges
The current building space solar power station is the first technical problem.Space solar power
station is a huge project for existing spacecraft technology made a great challenge: a large scale, quality
and reach million tons, higher than the current satellite four orders of magnitude, requires new materials
and new vehicle technology; area of several square kilometers, higher than the current satellite six orders
of magnitude, we need a special structure, assembly and attitude control of space technology; power,
generating power for GW, higher than the current satellite six orders of magnitude, the need special
power management and thermal control technology; long life, at least 30 years, compared with more than
double the current satellites, new materials and in-orbit maintenance technology; high efficiency, the need
for advanced space solar power conversion technology and microwave conversion transmission
technology.
Second is cost. Some experts estimate, the construction of a space-based solar power would cost
300 billion to 1 trillion U.S. dollars. Therefore, the cost might be restricting the development of space solar
power station of the main factors. In the new concepts, new technologies and large-scale commercial
before the income is difficult to compensate for the overall system construction and operating costs.
China and Space-Based Solar Power
Long-range energy transfer is a huge technical issues (information)
Once again, the environmental impact. Although the power of large space solar power station, but
due to microwave energy transmission distance (36,000 km), according to the transmission
characteristics of microwave energy, the energy density of the actual receiving antenna is low.
Finally, operational issues. Space solar power plant operation in many issues, including the need to
take appropriate measures to secure control of the beam problem, the impact of the aircraft, space debris
on space solar power station may cause local damage, easy to attack, could become space junk, etc. In
addition, there are orbits and frequencies, capacity, ability to launch and other issues.
Outside the program
USA 1979 SPS Reference System: This is the first relatively complete space solar power plant
system design, completed in 1979 by the United States to the United States half of the generating
capacity of the target design. The design for the layout of the geostationary orbit on 60 power-generating
capacity of 5 GW of power generation satellites.
Integrated Symmetrical Concentrator systems: NASA in the late 1990s, the SERT research
program proposed in the plan. Located on both sides of the mast with a large clam-shaped solar reflector
to the condenser is located in the center of two photovoltaic arrays. Condenser for the sun, the mast, the
China and Space-Based Solar Power
battery array, transmitting array as a whole, rotation on the ground. Condenser and the mast rotation in
response to each other daily and seasonal variations of the track.
Distributed tethered satellite system in Japan: a single module to reduce the complexity and
weight of Japanese scientists proposed a distributed concept of tethered satellite. The basic unit consists
of a size of 100 meters × 95 meters of the unit board, and satellite platforms, cell boards and satellite
platforms using four 2 km to 10 km of rope suspension together. By the solar cell board, microwave
conversion device and the transmitting antenna consisting of sandwich board, contains a total of 3800
modules. The total weight of each cell board is about 42.5 tons, microwave energy transmission power of
2.1 MW. Board composed of units from the 25 sub-panels, 25 sub-boards throughout the system. The
design of the modular design is very clear, is conducive to system assembly, maintenance. But the
system continued to show great quality, in particular, the use of less efficient.
European solar sail tower: Europe in 1998, "Space and explore the use of the system concept,
structure and technology research" proposed in the plan of the European concept of solar sail tower. It is
based on the solar tower concept of the United States, and the use of many new technologies. The most
important is the use of lightweight structures that can be expanded - a solar sail. It can significantly
reduce overall system weight and reduce the difficulty of assembling the system. Each of which a solar
sail as a battery array module size of 150 m × 150 m, automatically launched into orbit, assembled in lowEarth orbit system, and through the electric thrusters to geosynchronous transfer orbit. Since the program
uses the gradient method to achieve stable directional transmitting antenna on Earth, so solar panels can
not achieve sustained directed against Japan. (Purple Xiao Shao Huiying)