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Robert BellExecutive DirectorSociety of Satellite Professionals Int’l
Why Space Solar Power Needs the Satellite Industry On Its Side
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A long, long time ago…
This way to the Promised Land!!!
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A long, long time ago…
This way to the Promised Land!!!
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The same story today
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The same story today
The GEO Neighborhood
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It’s crowded up here
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Really crowded
Welcome to the neighborhood!Let’s get acquainted.
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What the industry has to offer
+400 satellites in GEO
$117 bn in revenue
Legal rights to orbital slots
Regulatory protection of microwave frequencies
More experience designing for and operating in space than anyone else
Long horizons for capital investment
And…we really arerocket scientists!
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Industry opinions
Chief Engineer whose first job was planning SSP for
Boeing in the 70s
VP Satellite Operations
Investment banker in the satellite & space industries
Dr. Satellite
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Concerns about technology
For operation in GEO, the Tech Readiness Level of SSP is low (est. 3 out of 10)
• Few underlying technologies are proven in orbit except power generation (for satellites)
• Only small-scale terrestrial tests of power-beaming to date
• Challenges to space-based testing hinder development
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Concerns about scale
Scale problems are massive
• Need to put 10,000-30,000 metric tons into orbit – ISS is 40 metric tons
• Need to generate multiple Gw – ISS generates 300-400 Kw
• Need to build something with 10 km wingspan – ISS is 150 m
• Technology can only be proven at large scale due to wavelength of transmission and distance from Earth
Can it be done? Certainly…with enough money behind it
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Concerns about communications
Interference and regulations
• SSP power beaming would render certain microwave bands all but unusable, with biggest impact on terrestrial mobile
• Out-of-band emissions could be a huge problem if not controlled
• Spectrum regulation is both international and national, highly complex and highly controversial
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Exciting opportunity
A communications satellite earns its owner about $250m in revenue and delivers about $2bn in value to society a year
Selling 5 GW of SSP at 5 cents per Kw per year would have the same results
If successful, SSP could dwarf the commercial satcom industry
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Upsides for the industry
Development of SSP would drive valuable innovation:
• Radical reductions in launch costs required to put all that mass in orbit
• Highly efficient electric propulsion to transfer from LEO to GEO
• Proven modular in-orbit construction and repair technologies
• Big gains in efficiency of solar power generation
• More efficient antenna systems
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Message for SSP innovators
“Work on the enabling technologies: launch, electric propulsion, in-orbit construction and repair, solar efficiency.”
“The research & industrialization effort could help our space communications activities survive long-term competition from terrestrial systems.”
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Message for SSP innovators
“It will be hard.Keep working on it.”
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Robert BellExecutive DirectorSociety of Satellite Professionals Int’l
Why Space Solar Power and the Satellite Industry Need Each Other