Space-Based Solar Power – funded ideas

ESA’s Discovery programme recently called for ideas that would answer the question: how do you convert a large amount of solar energy into a useful form and beam it down to Earth or another planetary surface, as efficiently as possible?

With the OSIP call for ideas, ESA aimed to ignite a coordinated initiative to reassess SBSP and see how we can move towards demonstrating its potential for providing inexhaustible, continuously available, clean energy on Earth.

Of 85 ideas received, 13 were selected for funding. The activities have all recently launched to explore a huge range of SBSP technologies, including how to more efficiently collect sunlight and how to safely transmit this power to Earth, as well as how to manufacture and assemble these huge solar power satellites, control them and keep them in the right location.