Moon-made solar station could transmit power from space to Earth

The European Space Agency (ESA) has been exploring an innovative solution to help us meet our climate targets: transmitting solar power from space to Earth — also known as space-based solar power (SBSP).

Harnessing the sun’s power from above our planet comes with two main advantages: access to higher energy intensity and the lack of weather-dependence, a major problem of terrestrial solutions.

To test the feasibility of SBSP, the ESA has partnered up with the European tech industry to work on the Solaris project. One of these partners is Switzerland-based Astrostrom, seeking to deliver space-based solar power to the Moon, before scaling up to Earth.

Powering up the Moon

The startup is exploring the design of a butterfly-inspired solar power satellite, located at an Earth-Moon Lagrange point around 61,350 km from the lunar surface. The so-called Greater Earth Lunar Power Station (GE⊕-LPS) features V-shaped solar panels with integrated antennas, installed on a helix configuration that spans over a square kilometre.

lunar solar power satellite

      Guidantech
      Logo
      Shopping cart