Advocating for down-to-earth approaches to space-based solar power.
Overview
| Company | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Founder(s) | |
| Ownership | Non Profit |
| Media | |
|---|---|
| Website |
Description
SPACE (Solar Power Alternative for Clean Energy) Canada (not to be confused with the VC company Space Canada) advocates for space-based solar power. Space-based solar power is the idea of collecting energy with sun-synchronous (their orbit keeps them in the sun all the time) or geo-synchronous (always above the same spot on the ground) satellites Solar collectors in space have reliably and safely demonstrated projecting the collected power back to Earth in useable form.
SPACE Canada envisions using this technology to secure endless supplies of safe, clean energy delivered anywhere in the world, including to developing nations. A practical barrier to this vision is the cost of hauling the massive amount of equipment the collector requires into space (see Space Based Power Not Yet the Future for more information on this theme). The current energy disruptions in Europe and falling cost of launching rockets has nations once again looking at these plans.
Even if the economics of space-based power can be made to work, there is a risk of the large solar collectors making the sky unusable for astronomy. Solar-based power need not be beamed to Earth, though. The energy could be collected away from Earth orbit in a Lagrange point, and then beamed to where spacecraft need it. This theme is explored further in Energy in Space and Getting Around in Space.
Recent News & Updates
April, 2022
The 2022 International Space Solar Power Student Competition proved popular enough to extend the deadline for submission. The prize was a scholarship to participate in the International Astronautical Congress's (IAC 2022) Space Power Symposium.
Related
🔋 Power
- Space Based Power Not Yet the Future
- Energy in Space
- Getting Around in Space
- STELLS - Delivering emergency power to lunar rovers.
- SPACE Canada - Advocating for down-to-earth approaches to space-based solar power.