Wireless power beaming is the transmission of electrical energy without a physical link. In a wireless power transmission system, a transmitter device, driven by electric power from a power source, transmits power across space to a receiver device, which extracts power from the field and supplies it to an electrical load. The technology of wireless power transmission can eliminate the use of the wires and batteries, thus increasing the mobility, convenience, and safety of an electronic device for users. The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has a strong heritage of turning visionary ideas into reality: nuclear submarines, space surveillance, and GPS are just a few examples that have roots at NRL. Today, a confluence of advances at NRL and elsewhere presents an opportunity for two potentially revolutionary energy technologies: Power Beaming & Space Solar. As recognized in NRL’s reports on these topics, delivering energy without moving or employing mass and the prospect of collecting clean, continuous, abundant sunlight in space and distributing it globally present compelling capabilities for remote installation energy resupply, disaster response, and power for the developing world. Dr. Jaffe has been conducting space-based solar energy research for more than a decade, focusing in part on transmitting solar energy from space to Earth; in this presentation, Dr. Jaffe will present the visions for power beaming and space solar, and delve into their technical, regulatory, and economic challenges and opportunities.
HDIAC Webinars - Power Beaming & Space Solar Innovation
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Presenter
Paul Jaffe, Ph.D.
Dr. Paul Jaffe is an electronics engineer and researcher with over 25 years of experience with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. He has led or held major roles on dozens of space missions and on breakthrough technology development projects for civilian, defense, and intelligence community sponsors, including SSULI, STEREO, TacSat-1, TacSat-4, ORS, MIS, PRAM, CARINA, RSGS, PTROL, S2FOBs, and LEctenna. He was responsible for electrical system and spacecraft computer hardware development. He served as coordinator and editor of two solar power satellite study reports and was the principal investigator for a ground-breaking space solar research effort. His current roles include program management and systems engineering of a portfolio of projects. He serves as a lecturer for the Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Maryland. He has over 50 journal, conference, and patent publications and is the recipient of numerous awards. Dr. Jaffe has made many speaking and media appearances, including as a TEDx speaker, MSNBC speaker, and the Science Channel’s “Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman.” He is also active in educational and STEM outreach.
During the webinar, Dr. Jaffe highlights resources, those resources are listed below for your reference.
1975 NASA power beaming demo:
https://youtu.be/RNqEyfVrEug
2019 power beaming demo:
https://youtu.be/Xb9THqrXd4I
“Researchers transmit energy with laser in ‘historic’ power-beaming demonstration” 2019:
https://www.nrl.navy.mil/news/releases/researchers-transmit-energy-laser-power-beaming-demonstration
2019 space solar TEDx talk:
https://youtu.be/e3jwr3sTxpc
DoD space solar report from October 2019:
https://space.nss.org/wp-content/uploads/Space-Solar-for-Remote-Installations-2019.pdf
Space solar flight experiment launched in May:
https://www.nrl.navy.mil/news/releases/nrl-conducts-first-test-solar-power-satellite-hardware-orbit
If the aim of the power beam gets skewed away from the receiver on earth, could it have negative effects on the earth’s magnetic field? Especially if there’s multiple beams and receivers.
Hi Mark,
The amount of power even in a hypothetical future case with many terrawatts provided by solar power satellites is almost certainly too low to affect the Earth’s magnetic field. Thanks,
Paul
What, specifically, is PRAM demonstrating/exploring, Paul? The press release says, “The 12-inch square tile module will test the ability to harvest power from its solar panel and transform the energy to a radio frequency microwave.”
Obviously, converting solar energy to microwaves for transmission through space is a mature technology.
Thanks.
Hi Stan,
The current experiment focuses on the energy conversion process and resulting thermal performance in the modular sandwich configuration, which differs significantly from how spacecraft usually do this where the solar panels and transmitters are separate. The hardware will provide us with temperature and efficiency data that will drive the design of future space solar prototypes. For more, please see:
P. Jaffe and J. McSpadden, “Energy Conversion and Transmission Modules for Space Solar Power,” Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 101, no. 6, pp. 1424–1437, Jun. 2013, doi: 10.1109/JPROC.2013.2252591.
Thanks,
Paul