The launch of Space Solar Power Demonstrator prototype marks a major milestone in Caltech’s Space Solar Power Project, which aims to deploy a constellation of spacecraft that collect sunlight…
PASADENA — Caltech scientists in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 3, celebrated the launch of a Space Solar Power Demonstrator prototype into orbit as part of an ambitious effort to harvest solar power in space and beam that energy back to Earth.
When fully realized, the project could make what was once considered science fiction a reality, researchers said. Caltech’s Space Solar Power Project got its start after philanthropist Donald Bren, chairman of Irvine Company and a lifetime member of the Caltech Board of Trustees, learned about the potential for space-based solar energy manufacturing in an article in Popular Science magazine. In 2013, Bren and his wife, Brigitte, a Caltech trustee, agreed to donate the funds, set to eventually exceed $100 million, for the project through the Donald Bren Foundation.
Engineers carefully lower the DOLCE portion of the Space Solar Power Demonstrator onto the Vigoride spacecraft built by Momentus.Credit: Caltech/Space Solar Power Project
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