Caltech's SSPD-1 mission has concluded to demonstrate the ability to wirelessly transmit solar energy into space. Read: James Webb telescope detects primordial black hole
SSPD-1 (Space Solar Power Demonstrator) was launched on January 3, 2023 to demonstrate and test three technological innovations needed to make space solar power a reality.
For ten months, this 'testbed' demonstrated its ability to transmit electricity wirelessly in space; measures the efficiency, durability and functionality of various types of solar cells in space; tested the design of a lightweight deployable structure to deliver and hold solar cells and associated energy transmitters, Caltech said in a statement.
The mission lost contact with Earth on November 11. The Vicoride-5 vehicle that hosted SSPD-1 will remain in orbit to support testing and demonstration of the vehicle's microwave electrothermal thruster engines. Eventually, it decays and disintegrates in Earth's atmosphere.
Now, as SSPD-1's space mission ends, engineers on Earth are “celebrating testbed successes and learning important lessons that will help chart the future of space solar power.”
“Commercially cost-effective space-borne solar power to light up the world is a future possibility, but this important mission proved that it is an achievable future,” said Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum.
The mission consisted of three main experiments, each testing a different technology:
1. Dolce (Ultralight deployable In-orbit Composite Experiment): A 1.8 meter by 1.8 meter structure that demonstrates the new architecture, packaging scheme and deployment mechanisms of a scalable modular spacecraft that will eventually create a one-kilometer-scale constellation with a power plant.
2. ALPHA: A collection of 32 different types of photovoltaic (PV) cells, enabling evaluation of cell types that can withstand demanding space environments.
3. MAPLE (Microwave Array for Power-Transfer Low-Orbit Experiment): A set of lightweight and flexible microwave power transmitters based on custom integrated circuits with precise timing control to selectively focus power on two different receivers to demonstrate remote wireless power transmission in space. .
