About SBSP

Space Frontier Foundation
Space-Based Solar Power Project

Objective:

To create the landscape and conditions for commercial Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) technology by the U.S. to become successful and self-sustaining.

Space Frontier Foundation’s SBSP Credo:

• Strategic investment in SBSP today will enable cost-competitive baseload clean energy, helping decrease carbon emissions by 2040, and open massive export opportunities to fuel economic growth.
• SBSP development does not need fundamental scientific breakthroughs. The technology is ready for in-space Now is the time to increase the number, diversity, and pace of space-based demonstrations by the United States.
• Developing and deploying commercial SBSP is in the S.’ immediate national interest. The U.S. needs a whole-of-government and internationally strategic campaign to create a free-world clean power alliance around developing and implementing SBSP.

We are a Funded Initiative. Our Key Activities:

• Educate key stakeholders and build connections between diverse and unconnected beneficiaries
• Enable congressional involvement through bills and briefings
• Identify external obstacles to SBSP development and deployment, and raise their profile to enable clarity in problem definition
• Empower interested commercial and non-commercial parties by representing them and their shared interests
• Strive to serve as an information nexus in all matters related to SBSP

Immediate Focus:

• Identifying first markets for These are use cases for which SBSP is the best and immediate solution to meet a pent up demand that has or will have money to self-sustain.
• Setup a trade association with a series of organizations to advance the development and deployment of SBSP
• Sustained engagement with private companies, executive departments, congressional offices, Think Tanks, international agencies and Challenges in our radar:
  • Education and awareness in the utility industry and the Congress
  • Understanding spectrum management
  • Environmental impact and navigating through NEPA

Our Impact as of September 2024:

• Amended House Bill H.R.2988 to add SBSP as an area of study in the Department of Energy and NASA Interagency Research Coordination Hearing at the 28 Min mark here
• Amended House Bill H.R.6131 to have the Office of Space Commerce and NASA jointly submit a report on Commercial SBSP to the Senate and House Committees: Hearing at the 3:15 Hr mark here.
• Presented on “Harmonizing U.S. Efforts to Commercialize Space-Based Solar Power” at the International Conference for Energy from Space, in London 2024
• Collaborated with the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP) to host a SBSP workshop at the AI Expo for National Competitiveness D.C., 2024.

Professionals from diverse backgrounds were brought together with the objective of increasing the inclusion of space-based power as an energy option in strategic planning for their organizations.

• Upcoming Events:
  • Briefing the House of Representatives on SBSP
  • Publish a field report in a utility industry magazine, and participate in an utility industry conference to introduce SBSP

Contact Details:

Srikanth Raviprasad, Project Manager
srikanth.raviprasad@spacefrontier.org

Our Newsletter

August 2024

September 2024

Recommended Readings

• Innovation Frontier Project, 2021 – Space Solar Power: An Extraterrestrial Energy Resource for the U.S.

• POWER, 2024: Space-Based Solar Power for U.S. Energy Independence
• Wired, 2024: The Race for Space-Based Solar Power
• Financial Times, 2023: How to make space-based solar power a reality
• New York Times, 2023: Looking to Space in the Race to Decarbonize
• Science, 2022: Space-based solar power is getting serious—can it solve Earth’s energy woes?
• The Guardian, 2022: Beam me down: can solar power from space help solve our energy needs?

• Beyond Earth Institute, 2021: Catching the Sun: A National Strategy for Space Solar Power
• Space News, 2024: NASA study: clean, space-based solar power beaming is possible
• Space Policy Journal, 2022: Space-based Solar Power as a Catalyst for Space Development
• George Washington University, 2024: Sunrise in Orbit – A Policy Roadmap for Space Solar Power
• Amendment to Bill H.R.2988, By Rep. Mullin (CA-15) to add SBSP to the DOE and NASA Interagency Coordination Act, 2023
• Amendment to Bill H.R.6131, By Rep. Mullin (CA-15) and Rep. McCormick (GA-6) to add SBSP study to the Commercial Space Act. 2023

• American Foreign Policy Council, 2022: The Promise of Space-Based Solar Power
• The Strategist, 2022: The race to develop space-based solar power is heating up
• Naval Research Laboratory, 2019: Opportunities and Challenges for Space Solar for Remote Installations
• CNBC, 2019: China plans a solar power play in space that NASA abandoned decades ago

• Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), 2023: Space Solar Power for Global Decarbonization
• Energy Voice, 2024: Could space-based solar power be the world’s next energy frontier?
• IEEE Journal of Microwaves, 2021: Microwave and Millimeter Wave Power Beaming

• The Aerospace Corporation, 2021: Space-Based Solar Power: A Near-Term Investment Decision
• Erik Kulu, 2024: Space Solar Power: Updated Survey of Private Initiatives

• UK Space Energy Initiative, 2022: Life Cycle Assessment of the UK Space Energy Initiative Technology Roadmap
• Keio University, Japan, 2000: CO2 Emission from Solar Power Satellite through its Life Cycle

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 2024: Space-Based Solar Power by the Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy
• European Space Agency (ESA) SOLARIS, 2022: The Case for an ESA preparatory programme for Space-Based Solar Power for terrestrial energy needs
• European Space Agency (ESA) SOLARIS, 2022: Cost vs Benefit Studies
• European Space Agency (ESA) SOLARIS, 2023: Greater Earth Lunar Power Station (GE⊕-LPS) Study

• European Space Agency (ESA): Frequently Asked Questions on Space-Based Solar Power
• Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI): Technology Innovation Spotlight – Space-Based Solar Power: Frequently Asked Questions