Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

China’s space station work is likely to help the country fabricate solar power satellites. High-definition images of China’s space station were taken by the departing Shenzhou-16 crew on October 30.
Image credit: CMS

A number of teams in China are exploring technologies required to install in Earth orbit a space-based solar power facility.

Hou Xinbin is a senior researcher at the China Academy of Space Technology in Beijing and a member of the Committee of Space Solar Power of the Chinese Society of Astronautics.

“My colleagues at several domestic institutes and I have proposed a technology demonstration mission to the country’s space community, and are hoping it will happen in the near future,” Hou told China Daily in an interview last month in Beijing, on the sidelines of an international space industry forum.

China space station is captured in this photo taken recently by the departing Shenzhou-16 crew.
Image credit: CMS

Key step

According to Hou, there’s a key step to verifying the feasibility of space-based solar power generation.

“We want to make and place into orbit a pair of satellites — a large one that will collect solar power and convert it to microwaves and laser beams, and a smaller one responsible for receiving laser beams. Meanwhile, a ground station will be in charge of receiving the microwaves. The two satellites will form an in-orbit testing system for wireless power transfer,” Hou said.

A solar power satellite with laser transmission capability, Hou added, can operate in a lunar polar orbit and provide power supply to exploration programs in polar regions on the Moon.

Illumination map of the south polar region of the Moon. Areas in black receive no sunlight, and areas in warmer colors are illuminated a greater fraction of the time.
Image credit: Base image mosaic from NASA, Arizona State University, and Applied Coherent Technology Corp.

Challenges ahead

Hou also pointed to challenges ahead, such as developing high-performance components, not too big or too heavy, integrating those technologies into a satellite, and also ensuring that power beams from space to ground receiving stations can be done with great accuracy.

“In the long term, we need to figure out how to transport large, heavy parts to orbit and then assemble a colossal power station,” Hou told the State-run China Daily.