Star Catcher beams energy with record power
Star Catcher will wirelessly supply satellites in space with energy. The company has demonstrated optical power transmission and surpassed DARPA.
Star Catcher tests wireless optical power transmission
(Image: Star Catcher)
US company Star Catcher Industries has reportedly set a new record in wireless optical power transmission and also powered a vehicle. The company plans to supply satellites in space with energy using this technology in the future.
For power transmission, Star Catcher uses lasers with different wavelengths. These are directed at commercially available photovoltaic modules. With this experimental setup at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, it was possible to transmit electrical energy with a power of 1.1 kilowatts, Star Catcher announced. "These results demonstrate the reliability and maturity of our concept for a resilient orbital power grid," said Andrew Rush, CEO and co-founder of the company.
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According to the company, Star Catcher has thus surpassed the previous record. This was set by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the research agency of the US Department of Defense, in May: As part of the Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay (POWER) project, a power of 800 watts was transmitted over a distance of almost 9 kilometers for 30 seconds.
Star Catcher, on the other hand, has not provided any information about the distance and duration of the power transmission. It was only stated that a total of over 10 megajoules of energy were transmitted during the test campaign.
This campaign also included powering a vehicle: the batteries of the lunar vehicle Moon RACER Lunar Terrain Vehicle from US space company Intuitive Machines were charged wirelessly. Star Catcher has demonstrated how vehicles on the lunar surface could be powered from space in the future, intuitive machines announced.
Power for Satellites
Star Catcher's goal is to transmit electrical energy to satellites or other spacecraft. Power supply is "the fundamental limiting factor" for satellites. These require more power for applications such as satellite internet or earth observation using artificial intelligence. However, equipping them with larger solar panels would mean more weight and thus higher transportation expenses.
This is where the Star Catcher system is intended to provide a solution: The company envisions launching satellites, called Power Nodes, into space that collect sunlight with Fresnel lenses. The light is concentrated and emitted as laser light. Satellites, spacecraft, or lunar rovers capture the light with their solar panels, which then supply power. By concentrating the light, the efficiency of the solar panels can be improved by two to ten times, according to Star Catcher.
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Next year, Star Catcher plans to demonstrate power transmission in orbit for the first time. According to Star Catcher, six satellite operators, who were not named, have already signed contracts for the purchase of electricity in orbit. The total value is in the double-digit millions per year until the end of the decade.
(wpl)
