Is Space-Based Solar a Good Idea?
Summary
TLDR1941年にアイザモフが発表した物語をもとに、2024年現在、オックスフォードのスタートアップ「Space Solar」は太陽から収集したエネルギーを無線で地球に送信する計画を立てています。2GWの衛星を22,000マイルの高空に設置し、24時間清潔なエネルギーを供給する。地球のエネルギーニーズに応えるため、太陽エネルギーを宇宙で効率的に活用する方法が注目されています。コスト削減と技術進歩により、宇宙型太陽光発電は経済的で実現可能になり、将来的には地上の太陽光発電所や風力発電所を上回る力を供給する見込みです。
Takeaways
- 📚 1941年にアイザック・アシモフは、宇宙ステーションが太陽エネルギーを集めて地球に無線で送る短編小説を発表しました。
- 🚀 2024年現在、オックスフォードのスタートアップ「Space Solar」は、2kmの2GWの衛星を使って地球にクリーンなエネルギーを24時間供給する計画を立てています。
- 🌟 太陽エネルギーは21世紀のエネルギーニーズを満たすための素晴らしい長期的なクリーンエネルギー源です。
- 📉 ソーラーパネルのコストは過去数十年で大幅に低下し、特にドイツのフィードインタリフ制度が市場価格の2倍を支払うことで需要を刺激しました。
- 💰 宇宙への打ち上げコストも、SpaceXのStarshipなどによる低コスト打ち上げ技術の発展により劇的に低下しています。
- 🛰️ Space Solarは1.7kmの直径を持つ宇宙型太阳光発電ステーションを建て、60,000枚の太陽電池パネルを用いて太陽光を集めます。
- 🔄 宇宙から地球へエネルギーを無線で送信する技術は、相位制御されたエネルギービームを用いて実現可能となりました。
- 📡 地上のアンテナ配列は、受け取りエリアの1/10程度のスペースしか必要としません。
- 🌐 地球の曲線による影響を考慮し、システムは海上に設置され、6km×13kmのエリアを占有すると予想されています。
- 🛑 安全性については、ビームの誤った方向への偏差が検出されると、自動的にビームの供給が停止するように設計されています。
- 🌡️ 太陽光発電の効率は約18%であり、地上の太陽光発電所の1%と比較して大幅に高効率です。
Q & A
Isaac Asimovが1941年に発表した短編小説で描いた宇宙ステーションのエネルギー伝送方法とは何ですか?
-Isaac Asimovの短編小説では、宇宙ステーションが太陽から集めたエネルギーを無線で地球に伝える方法を描いています。これは、焦点を当てたマイクロ波束を使って行われます。
Space Solarというスタートアップはどこに拠点を置いていますか?
-Space Solarというスタートアップは、イギリスのオックスフォードに拠点を置いています。
Space Solarの計画では、どのくらいの大きさの衛星を使いますか?また、それをどこに設置する予定ですか?
-Space Solarの計画では、約2kmの大きさの衛星、すなわち2GWの衛星を使い、それを地球から22,000マイルの上に設置する予定です。
太陽光発電のコストが過去数十年でどのように変化しましたか?
-過去数十年間、特に2000年代初頭のドイツのフィードインタリフ制度のおかげで、太陽光発電のコストは大幅に下がり、現在では石炭や天然ガスよりも安価になっています。
SpaceXのStarshipがもたらす宇宙運送コストの低下はどの程度ですか?
-SpaceXのStarshipは、150トンのペイロードを3百万ドルで打ち上げる見込みであり、1kgあたり20ドル程度になると予想されています。これは、過去の宇宙運送コストに比べて、大幅な低下です。
宇宙型太陽光発電ステーションの建設にはどれだけの打ち上げミッションが必要ですか?
-Space Solarの計画では、宇宙型太陽光発電ステーションの建設に68回の打ち上げミッションが必要です。
宇宙から地球へ無線でエネルギーを伝える技術の原理は何ですか?
-これは、フェーズド配列を使ってビームを制御する技術です。複数のアンテナを同じ周波数で振動させ、それらの波の干渉パターンを利用して、特定の方向にエネルギーを送ることができます。
Space Solarのシステムで使用される周波数はどれであり、なぜその周波数を選択しましたか?
-Space Solarのシステムでは、2.45GHzのマイクロ波周波数を使用しています。この周波数は、雲や雨にもかかわらず容易に大気圏を通過できるため選択されています。
宇宙型太陽光発電の安全性について、どのような安全対策が講じられていますか?
-ビームが意図された集積地点から逸れたら、安全装置が作動し、パワービーミングプロセスを停止します。また、エネルギー強度は正午の日差しの1/4程度であり、NASAの初期研究表明、これは人間に安全です。
宇宙型太陽光発電の効率はどのように評価されていますか?
-宇宙型太陽光発電の太陽電池の効率は約40%であり、RFからDCへの変換効率は約85%です。大気圏を通過する際のロスや受信アンテナのロスも考慮されており、全体的な効率は約90%と評価されています。
Space Solarのビジネスモデルや将来の計画について教えてください。
-Space Solarは、今後10年以内に商業的な宇宙型太陽光発電ファームを設置することを目指しています。2027年までにプロトタイプを打ち上げる予定があり、2030年までに約1,000軒の家を供給できる規模のバージョンを打ち上げる予定です。
Outlines
🚀 宇宙型ソーラーパネルの未来
1941年にアイザモフが宇宙型ソーラーパネルを描いた短編小説を契機に、2024年現在、オックスフォードのスタートアップ「Space Solar」が2kmの衛星を用いて地球にクリーンなエネルギーを送還する計画を立てています。この技術は、2050年までに倍増すると予想されるエネルギー需要とゼロ・エミッションの課題に対処する可能性があります。また、ソーラーパネルのコストの低下と、宇宙への打ち上げコストの削減が、宇宙でのソーラーパワーの実現を促進しています。
🌐 宇宙から無線で電力を送還
Space Solarは、マイクロ波束を使って地球にエネルギーを無線送還する計画を展開しています。この技術は、ニコライ・テスラの無線電力伝送の考え方と関連しており、アメリカのDARPAやグリッドオペレーターが研究しています。Space Solarは、フェーズ・アレイ技術を使って、エネルギーを特定の方向へ送る方法を開発しています。このアプローチは、従来のソーラーパネルよりも効率的で、太陽光を360°捕捉できるため、日没時でもエネルギー供給が可能であるという利点があります。
🛰️ 宇宙ソーラーパワーステーションの設計と挑戦
Space Solarの設計は、太陽光を集めるための60,000枚のソーラーパネルと、反射器を備えた1.7kmの直径を持つステーションで構成されています。これにより、核力発電所と同等の電力を生産することが期待されています。しかし、このプロジェクトには、コスト、安全性、技術的な挑戦が伴います。特に、68回の打ち上げとシンプルなロボティクスによる組み立てが求められます。また、安全対策として、ビームの誤差が生じた場合に備えた自動停止システムが搭載されています。
🌟 宇宙ソーラーパワーの効率と将来性
宇宙ソーラーパワーは、地球表面のソーラーファームに比べて18%の効率を持ち、土地のコストや大気圏の損失を考慮した上で、年間2.5倍の電力を生産できる可能性があります。また、1つのインフラで複数の地域に電力供給が可能な利点もあります。Space Solarは、2020年代中には商業的なソーラーファームを設置し、3年以内に1,000世帯を供給可能なプロトタイプを打ち上げる計画を進めています。この分野は、技術的な突破を遂げながらも、安全性やコスト面での課題に直面しています。
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Isaac Asimov
💡宇宙型太陽光発電
💡Space Solar
💡無線電力伝送
💡相位配列
💡マイクロ波束
💡Dyson Sphere
💡スターシップ
💡太陽電池
💡エネルギー需給
💡Anka Solix X1
Highlights
Isaac Asimov在1941年发表了一篇短篇小说,描述了一个空间站使用聚焦微波束无线传输太阳能到地球。
2024年,总部位于英国牛津的Space Solar初创公司计划使用2平方公里大小的卫星实现相同的技术。
Space Solar的联合首席执行官Sam Adin解释了太空太阳能如何满足21世纪的能源需求。
2050年能源需求预计将至少翻倍,而我们目前缺乏可信的解决方案来实现净零排放。
太阳能价格在过去几十年大幅下降,现在比煤炭和天然气更便宜,即使没有补贴。
SpaceX等公司的发射成本预测显示,Starship的发射成本可能降至每公斤20美元。
Space Solar计划建造一个直径1.7公里的太阳能收集站,这比世界上最大的人造结构还要大。
Space Solar的太阳能收集站将使用60,000块太阳能板,通过一对反射器收集阳光。
Space Solar的系统预计能够产生2吉瓦的能源,相当于一个核电站。
Space Solar使用相控阵技术,通过电子信号延迟来定向传输能量。
Space Solar的无线能量传输设计已证明能够将能量传输到指定位置。
Space Solar的系统使用2.45 GHz的微波频率,这种频率可以轻易穿透大气层。
Space Solar的接收天线阵列预计只需要现代风力发电场8%的面积。
Space Solar的首个项目预计成本接近120亿美元,后续系统成本预计会显著降低。
Space Solar面临的挑战之一是如何在空间中组装这种规模的结构,这在以前从未被证明过。
Space Solar计划在未来十年内安装他们的第一个商业太空太阳能农场。
Space Solar的系统预计能够提供比地面太阳能农场多2.5倍的年发电量。
Space Solar的系统设计允许在不同地点之间几乎即时切换能量供应。
Transcripts
in 1941 Isaac azimoff published a short
story in which a space station
wirelessly transmits energy collected
from the Sun down to planet Earth using
a focused microwave beam now it's 2024
and space solar a startup based in
Oxford in the UK is making plans to do
the same using a 2 gaw satellite almost
2 km in size that hangs 22,000 Mi above
us sending Down clean energy day and
night Humanity has long been captive
ated by the idea of a Dyson Sphere
efficiently harvesting the energy of the
sun today I want to talk about solar
power in space generally but also I want
to look specifically at the recent
Breakthrough by space solar in actually
proving that you can get energy back
down to earth I reached out to Sam Adin
co-ceo of space solar to understand more
about what makes solar in space so
captivating we've got huge challenges
with both Net Zero and energy demand
generally eny demand going to at least
double by by by 2050 and we really don't
have a a credible solution for this Net
Zero is really an illusion without new
more capable Technologies and in the sun
we've got an incredible long-term clean
energy source so space solar power is
about how to use that in a in new ways
that can really meet our energy needs
for for the 21st century the idea of
harvesting solar power in space and
transmitting it to Earth has only
transitioned out of the realm of total
science fiction very recently this new
reality is largely due to a reduction in
the costs associated with the idea both
for producing solar panels at scale and
also for launching materials into space
over the past couple of decades the
price of Solar in particular has dropped
significantly thanks to initiatives like
the German feedin tariff in the early
2000s that paid twice the market price
for electricity generated from
Renewables like solar today solar is
cheaper than coal and natural gas even
without any further subsidies applied to
to it which is a really interesting case
study in how government backing and
intervention can help new technologies
generate market demand this reduction in
the price of Solar is compounded by the
reduction in the cost of launching
materials into space during the era of
the space shuttle program which ran from
1981 to 2011 the cost was approximately
$118,000 to
$222,000 per kilogram to get an item
into space but now's recent projections
from companies like SpaceX are
forecasting a launch for the Starship
of3 million
for a 150 ton payload that's $20 per
kilogram that is an astronomical no pun
intended drop in price point that will
fundamentally change the economies of
commercializing space though yes you do
need to take everything Mr musk says
with a small grain of salt and an
understanding of inherent hyperbole so
building a space solar power station in
in orbit is something that the world is
is moving quickly towards so we're
entering a completely new era in terms
of how we use space with with things
like Starship online so we've lived to
date in a mass constrained era in space
where the natural thing is to launch
things to be a far apart as possible
from each other uh you do that so that
you avoid things like collisions and for
interference but actually it's a stupid
way of using an asset absolutely DFT and
what what we're getting now with with
the onset of Starship is we will move
towards launching stuff to Cluster and
be together it's what will drive
economic interaction and the future
growth of the sector so something like
space based solar power is really the
first cab off the rank in terms of the
sorts of large infrastructure that we'll
be able to build in space but think data
centers direct mobile Communications new
materials in space these are all things
that this new era in space is is going
to drive this makes the interest in
solar projects in space both
economically somewhat believable for the
first time ever particularly for
projects on this size and scale and
these projects are big space solar aims
to produce a solar harvesting station
1.7 km in diameter that's more than
twice the length of the largest man-made
object ever the Burge Khalifa and they
intend to construct it in space
requiring an estimated 68 missions to
move the required materials into orbit
the station cassia will use 60,000 solar
panels that collect the sunlight from a
pair of reflectors that align to capture
sunlight regardless of the orientation
of the station initial estimates which
we have known about for a while now but
that look to be backed up by an
independently conduct Ed report by
Fraser Nash suggests that plants could
produce 2 gaw of energy which is about
the same as a nuclear power station the
question is how do you get that solar
energy that is collected back to Earth
we're going to cover off that question
in detail but first I have to thank
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supporting the channel now back to the
video the idea of transmitting power
across free space otherwise called
Wireless power transmission sounds like
the stuff of mysterious Nikolai Tesla
folklore often Ed for the Lost
Technologies of the past but you'll be
pleased to know that this isn't the case
so much like Communications went from wi
to wiress the future of power is very
much Wireless as well and you've got
organizations like Dara looking at this
in the US grid operators looking at this
or ways to get power from on offshore to
onshore we've actually made a lot of
progress in the Technologies necessary
to make energy transmission even from
outer space a possibility the
oxford-based team are looking to use a
well-established technique as the basis
for their approach approach an energy
beam steered by a phased array if you've
taken a physics or engineering course
before you've probably covered the
basics of these but the operating
principle I always find equal parts
simple and surprising that it works if
you take a radio antenna and apply an
alternating electric field or voltage to
it this sends out an oscillation into
the electromagnetic field around the
antenna ultimately making you a really
boring radio station and a really
inefficient way of sending energy from A
to B we can visualize this antenna as
just an oscillating point in space
sending out radio waves in all
directions an interesting thing happens
though if we place two of these antennas
next to each other oscillating in sync
with each other now we get an
interference pattern between these two
waves cancelling in some places and
adding in others that looks a lot like a
double slit interference pattern largely
because to a certain extent it is if we
continue adding antennas this effect
compounds and we start to notice that
very Little Wave disturbance is moving
in some directions and a lot is moving
in others we are now sending energy in a
specific Direction this is also how cell
phone towers work to make sure that the
cell phone signal that they are sending
is outward and downwards towards the
ground not up into the sky which would
be a waste of electricity there's one
last trick we can do in this system if
we add a delay in the antennas from left
to right this changes how the signals
interfere the result is the beam is
steered left or right depending on the
relative delay between the antennas and
you can imagine this is just in 2D you
could also build an array in 3D and now
you can steer up down left and right and
make sure your power is transmitted to
the location of Interest down on say
planet Earth but how is space solar
taking this approach and adapting it
into their designs it's it's neat so um
I could I could take the laptop over and
show you now it's going to this is going
to be interesting so here's a picture
Ben of the a sort of 3D of the the
helical structure and if I take it above
the structure the lights are pointing
down from the top and you see the
different steps there it's the steps
that have the PV on it and then if you
look from the side you can see the the
antennas there and so the the the system
then beams out horizontally towards
towards me in in 360° depending on where
the uh the prodct beam is coming from
the Breakthrough announcement that you
might seen in the news recently was that
the team proved that their design
spreading the antennas across this
helical spiral system is capable of
transporting energy wirelessly and
steering that beam to the desired
location here a transceiver on the far
wall and that's a really important proof
of their design principle one of the
challenges with with with space Sol
power is is as you go around orbits you
see the Sun at different angles there's
lots of sort of fa flat panel approaches
but certain parts of the year they get
or or day and night they get abs
absolutely zero instant energy so other
designs have very complicated mechanical
rotating joints what the cop helical
design does is it's a completely solid
state solution to this but it beams in
360° like a lighthouse um and provides a
constant aperture towards the Earth um
so it's a very very novel solution and
it massively reduces the mass because
all the components used all the time
other designs components used say half
the time mass is about 60% of the cap
effects of a of a system so it really
does provide really compelling costs in
terms of the the ultimate cost of
electricity that um that comes out of
the system inherent to this phased array
approach is that it requires no moving
Parts it's steered entirely by
electronic signal delay which reduces
the chances of failure that would
potentially end a mission based out in
Space the space solar team will use a
beam in the microwave frequency of 2.45
GHz partly chosen because it easily
penetrates the atmosph spere even in the
case of cloud cover and Rain which you
can see in this diagram that is so hard
on the eyes only a physicist could have
made it back on Earth the power that is
delivered is captured by a similar but
much larger array of antennas estimated
to require a small fraction of the
footprint of a modern day Wind Farm
about 8% according to space solar and as
evidence of what is possible while no
systems have operated at the proposed
energy scales of the space solar system
similar technologies have run
terrestrial proof of Concepts including
uding microwave transmitters sending
power from Maui to Hawaii a 148 km
distance back in 2008 and Mitsubishi
transmitted a 10 kilowatt beam over 500
M back in 2015 last year A team out of
Caltech used their Maple system to
demonstrate energy transmission from
space using off-the-shelf transmitters
so we ar in the field of is this science
possible we are much more asking the
question of how do we optimize the
engineering and that is a good thing for
this technology but are we to the woods
yet definitely no building something of
this size in space has never been done
before and that will be a huge challenge
so let's talk about some of the
concerns the initial projection for the
cost of the first project is just under
12 billion reasonably steep but
subsequent systems should be
significantly cheaper on the order of
about3 billion and that's comparable if
not slightly cheaper than new nuclear
sites but honestly never put too much
faith and exact projections this far out
from having a technology in hand instead
I think it's better to look at the
trends and those Trends are the cost of
launching is tending down solar is
tending down and Construction in space
well we don't really have an idea yet
that's probably a major risk factor in
orbit assembly of anything like this
scale has never been demonstrated so
you're looking at a black box at the
moment with any number of things that
could go wrong space solar's next
challenge is how do they tackle this
problem in a sensible and scalable way
and so to build the the space solar
power station for us it's in a to a
total of 68 Starship launches for a 2
gaw system um and then these are
assembled by it's fairly simple robotics
in in many ways these are these systems
are comprised of hundreds of thousands
of the same dinner plate size modules
designed to be clipped together and so
it's a fairly simple assembly line type
robotics not sort of complicated robotic
arms and that sort of thing so where we
we've got to with with space solar now
uh We've created the monolithic design
for our system and the next step is how
you then slice and ice and and and build
the plans for how to build it in space
for the moment the full Innovation load
rests on the shoulders of the companies
aiming to deploy these Solar
Technologies and that should be scary
both to those companies and to people
thinking about investing in those
companies I've seen in other people's
coverage a lot of people expressing
concern about safety of these systems
people often site solar concentrat
examples as the cause of their worry
which yes have been known to
accidentally incinerate Birds leaving
tiny smoke trails in their wake and we
already know that people have a problem
with 5G which is harmless so I'd imagine
that we will have a bigger problem with
an energy beam being directed Down to
Earth from space are we right to be
concerned from a first past practical
point of view all systems are fallible
regardless of how clever their safety
engineering is so let's take that as
given that the idea that if something
could go wrong at some point it will go
wrong regardless of the reason let's run
through some of the numbers though
behind the space solar system they
estimate an energy intensity of about
one quter of the midday Sun as far as
initial studies run by NASA conclude
this is safe for human beings and we
shouldn't have any partially microwaved
humans running around anytime soon 2.5
GHz is also a reasonably long wavelength
about the size of your hand so photons
don't contain the energy to damage DNA
the likely deployment point of these
systems will also be offshore according
to the company occupying about 6 km x 13
km at UK latitudes that's elliptical
because the Earth is curved which flat
earthers might not like in terms of
interlock or Safety Systems any
deviation of the beam from the intended
collection point will trigger a fail sta
stopping the power beaming process
there's also often a lot of mention in
common sections of coverage of these
sorts of stories about the inefficiency
of these systems how exactly do they
Stack Up PV up in space so we use high
concentration photoal about 40%
efficient RF to DC conversion is about
85% efficient the other loss is there's
about 2% loss through the atmosphere the
beam because of defraction ends up as a
bell curve an Airy disc and so depending
on where you where you chop the edge of
the receiving antenna off you've got
some losses there that's about 90%
efficient and then you've got dc2 RF at
the other end again 85% Sun plug
compared to terrestrial solar
terrestrial solar is about 1% efficient
space solar power Sun plug is about 18%
efficient we may find that the answer is
just make the hardware more powerful
which has been the recourse of bad
software Engineers for a very long time
now making these systems bigger on Earth
in a solar farm is difficult because
land is very expensive but it is
basically free to make this system
larger in space basically free it's a
bit of a weird way of looking at the
problem but if the actual space of land
on Earth occupied is one of your
concerns the initial estimates for the
same land area usage suggests that
space-based solar power could produce
2.5 times more annual power than
terrestrial solar Farms or about 12
times more than offshore wind fors I
haven't seen it talked about a lot but I
also like the idea that it could be
providing power during the day to one
location and somewhere else during that
location's nighttime or if there was a
loow power requirement almost instantly
switching to another location so a
single infrastructure project might
actually be able to service multiple
locations my ending reaction to this
space no pun intended though this is one
of the first times that I've looked into
it is this is an interesting field yes
partly because I'm biased and I really
want a Dyson Sphere to exist but also
because in solving the problems
associated with getting these structures
set up in space we learn how to set up
these sorts of structures in space which
I think opens a lot of of doors to
Applications not that it needs it but it
also provides further volume and demand
drivers to lower the cost of solar and
space launches space solar wants to
install their first commercial solar
farm in space within the next decade
however they are aiming to launch an
initial prototype in the next 3 years
followed by a larger version before 2030
able to power a village of around 1,000
homes I think a space-based power
generating system of some form is an
inevitability whether it's the UK
America or China all of which are
working on this technology someone will
get there the question is will it be
this first wave aventures that get it
right or who among them will be the
first or do it best I think that is
still very much to be determined at this
point but I will always Champion smart
folk trying to tackle really hard
problems because you never know where
the output the pursuit of these answers
will lead
us if you like this video leave a like
or comment down below if you're
interested in other Technologies making
their way into space I just covered how
to build the first force field check it
out here or wherever I left it
potentially down in the description down
below as always thank you very much for
watching I'll see you next time goodbye
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