{"id":155590,"date":"2023-01-16T18:22:18","date_gmt":"2023-01-17T00:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/this-bold-new-mission-will-try-beaming-solar-power-down-from-space"},"modified":"2023-01-16T18:22:18","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T00:22:18","slug":"this-bold-new-mission-will-try-beaming-solar-power-down-from-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/this-bold-new-mission-will-try-beaming-solar-power-down-from-space","title":{"rendered":"This bold new mission will try beaming solar power down from space"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"display: block; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 4\/3; object-fit: contain;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/c2mgpMy-_mU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.caltech.edu\/about\/news\/caltech-announces-breakthrough-100-million-gift-to-fund-space-based-solar-power-project\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Space Solar Power Project<\/a> (SSPP) began in 2011 when Donald Bren \u2014 philanthropist, chairman of the Irvine Company, and a lifetime member of the Caltech Board of Trustees \u2014 and Caltech\u2019s then-president Jean-Lou Chameau came together to discuss the potential for a space-based solar power research project. By 2013, Bren and his wife (Caltech trustee Brigitte Bren) began funding the project through the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.donaldbren.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Donald Bren Foundation<\/a>, which will eventually exceed $100 million. As Bren said in a recent Caltech <a href=\"https:\/\/www.caltech.edu\/about\/news\/caltech-announces-breakthrough-100-million-gift-to-fund-space-based-solar-power-project\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\">press release<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"\"><p>\u201cFor many years, I\u2019ve dreamed about how space-based solar power could solve some of humanity\u2019s most urgent challenges. Today, I\u2019m thrilled to be supporting Caltech\u2019s brilliant scientists as they race to make that dream a reality.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>While the technology behind solar cells has existed since the late 19th century, generating solar power in space presents some serious challenges. For one thing, solar panels are heavy and require extensive wiring to transmit power, making them expensive and difficult to launch. To overcome these challenges, the SSPP team had to create a satellite that would be light enough for cost-effective launches yet strong enough to withstand the extreme environment of space. This required envisioning and developing new technologies, architectures, materials, and structures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Space Solar Power Project (SSPP) began in 2011 when Donald Bren \u2014 philanthropist, chairman of the Irvine Company, and a lifetime member of the Caltech Board of Trustees \u2014 and Caltech\u2019s then-president Jean-Lou Chameau came together to discuss the potential for a space-based solar power research project. By 2013, Bren and his wife (Caltech [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":631,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1633,8,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-solar-power","category-space","category-sustainability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155590\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}