Virtus Solis’ CEO and founder John Bucknell aims to prove NASA wrong after it dismissed space-based solar power earlier this year.
Virtus Solis’ CEO John Bucknell is on a mission to prove that NASA is wrong to dismiss space-based solar power.With all the hype about Martian colonization, it’s easy to forget the impact the fully reusable launch system could have closer to home.
Space-based solar power has traditionally been regarded as a prohibitively expensive endeavor. That’s because it requires massive orbiting arrays bigger than even the International Space Station – the largest human-made object to ever fly in space. While Starship will provide the heavy lift capability and the favorable economics, Virtus Solis has been hard at work on its wireless power transfer system and array technology.
Bucknell told IE that for the orbital transmitter to achieve the desired beam collection efficiency—roughly 95 percent—it has to be roughly two kilometers long. What’s more, it has to have a similarly-sized receiving antenna for the target radio frequency. Molniya also has a very uncrowded orbit compared to low Earth and geostationary orbit. As such, “putting solar power satellites in Molniya sidesteps the need to acquire orbital slots and has far better launch economics.”Virtus Solis has a firm handle on the technology but may need help overcoming regulatory hurdles back on Earth.
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