For the first time in human history, a satellite transmitted solar energy from space to Earth

Scientists have made a remarkable engineering and physics achievement: they have successfully transmitted solar energy from a satellite in orbit to a station on Earth. This is the first demonstration of its kind in history and opens up new possibilities for the future of clean and sustainable energy.

The experiment was conducted by a team of researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in collaboration with indie Semiconductor, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Amazon Web Services, and Caltech-affiliated startup GuRu Wireless, Inc.

The mission, called the Space Solar Power Demonstration (SSPD-1), was launched on January 3, 2023, using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which delivered the satellite to low Earth orbit. After two months of testing and calibration, the team was able to successfully demonstrate the transfer of energy from space to Earth, which was an important milestone in the field of space solar energy.

The SSPD-1 development team hopes to overcome these challenges and pave the way for large-scale deployment of space solar power in the future. Their ultimate goal is to create a constellation of satellites similar to SSPD-1 that can transmit enough energy to Earth to power 10,000 households.