Plans for the first solar energy station in space seem to herald exciting international collaboration and tons of new solar development jobs

There has been a lot of fanfare in recent weeks about the potential for solar energy production in space and what this could mean for net zero, jobs in solar development and the wider creation of space industries. As yet unclaimable by any nation, and requiring the expertise of many different fields, the possibilities for international cooperation in space could bring the global community together, particularly as regards clean energy production and meeting sustainability goals.

The already flourishing space start-up community is testament to the massive growth we are about to see in the commercialisation of space. Already there are globally renowned private companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic who have begun to operate commercial satellite launches, create a budding space tourism industry and launch new products like Starllink, a satellite internet service that has commercial and military uses.

Solar production in space, previously only a reality in the realms of science fiction, is being brought closer by the massive reduction of cost per launch as a result of the advent of private space exploration. This year, a number of global space organisations like NASA and the ESA, are looking into the viability of creating a reliable power station in space by 2050 and incredibly they seem to be confident.

As decarbonisation becomes an increasingly pressing issue, more and more funding is being pumped into areas previously considered overly expensive or even far fetched. An example of this was proposed by George Soros at the Munich Security Conference: Solar Geoengineering. In layman’s terms this is the practice of reflecting the sun’s rays away from earth through the creation of artificial aerosol clouds. Solar in space is starting to sound a little less crazy now you say?!

However, there are a few remaining hang ups around solar arrays in space. Firstly, the scale necessary. Scientists have asserted that these power stations would need to be at least a square kilometre in size. That’s a hundred times the size of the international space station. These stations would have to be assembled in space, and there is differing opinion as to how best to achieve this.?Solaris, the ESA project, has posited using a helical structure whilst the Chinese Chasing the Sun project, is developing a crown shaped solar collector. These systems would need to be remotely assembled robotically, a still nascent technology that would require incredible advances in engineering. Moreover, a project based at the California Institute of Technology is working on a system that flies in formation, using complex algorithms to keep the fleet in position.

Even once it is possible to launch and operate a solar station in space, there still remains the problem of beaming the energy produced back to earth. Whilst lasers have already been shown to efficiently transport energy over distance, clouds in their way can block them, rendering them an inefficient system in this case. Instead, scientists are exploring the use of microwaves which can also transfer energy without losing much energy. Microwaves, however, disperse as they travel and so receiving stations on the earth will need to be massive. The conversion of electricity to microwaves and then back to electricity will also inevitably incur losses and a major hurdle to be overcome before this technology can be implemented is how to make it efficient enough to warrant the substantial effort and expense.

Blue Origin is taking the concept of solar in space one step further than the competition by procuring solar panels out of simulated lunar regolith (dust and rocks). They have managed to produce incredibly pure silicone, glass covers and a by-product of oxygen that could prove pivotal in space exploration. Blue Origin are convinced that this kind of technology will be essential for extended lunar exploration, enabling astronauts to produce the materials necessary to harvest power on the moon and avoiding the necessity of sending supplies from earth.

Whilst most of these technologies are still some way off from being actionable, the engineering and innovation involved promises to herald exciting breakthroughs. Jobs in solar development are benefitting from the wide array of different technologies that are being worked on to increase renewable energy production. As humanity continues to delve deeper and more permanently into space, it makes sense that energy production is top of the list of benefits we could harness in the wider solar system.