Ultra-fast wireless charging for satellites?…The intriguing ‘this technology’ set to appear in Earth orbit next year - 경향신문

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An illustration of an orbital facility by the U.S. company Star Catcher, which concentrates sunlight received in Earth orbit into a beam and fires it toward nearby satellites. A satellite struck by this beam can charge its power at ultra-high speed. Courtesy of Star Catcher

# Inside a spacecraft with the Moon visible outside the window. Darkness and silence fill the place. Three astronauts hunch their bodies, hands tucked into their armpits. White breath spills from their mouths with every exhale. It is happening because it is so cold.

Ordinarily, a comfortable temperature is maintained inside a spacecraft. That it is this cold means some of the space chill, which can drop to minus 200 degrees, is being transmitted through the spacecraft walls to the inside. It is an impossible situation.

This happened because an explosion occurred in external equipment on the spacecraft. Damage from it halted the spacecraft’s power production. To return to Earth, the astronauts had to run only essential electronics, so they even turned off the heating. This is part of the plot of the American film <Apollo 13>, based on the true events aboard Apollo 13 in April 1970 as it headed to the Moon.

In the end, the astronauts returned to Earth in both the movie and real life. But if solar panels capable of generating their own power had been mounted on Apollo 13’s hull, would they have been spared the shivering cold? It is hard to be sure.

Today, most artificial satellites in Earth orbit carry solar panels, but the power they generate on typical small and medium satellites is only enough to run one or two household microwave ovens.

At present, there is no method to supply power to a satellite from the outside. Stringing an electric cable in space is not possible. Recently, however, a fresh answer has emerged. A way has been devised for satellites to produce up to 10 times more power than now.

A scene from a special beam-firing test conducted recently at the Kennedy Space Center of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Florida. The solar panel struck by the beam produced 1.1㎾ of power. Courtesy of Star Catcher

Last month, the U.S. space technology company Star Catcher Industries announced through official materials that it had succeeded in an experiment to boost the power output of solar panels mounted on satellites by firing a special beam at them. The experiments took place outdoors at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, home to NASA.

In pitch darkness, the solar panel struck by the beam produced 1.1㎾. Star Catcher did not provide detailed information about the transmission distance. Judging from the photos released, however, the distance between where the beam was emitted and received appears to be on the order of several ㎞.

This was not just a routine event. It was an attempt with strong potential to completely change how satellites in Earth orbit are operated.

All satellites humanity operates today produce electricity ‘on their own’. In other words, only self-generation is possible. They must use the solar panels attached like wings to the satellite bus to make power for themselves.

There is no way to supply power from outside the satellite in space. You cannot connect a power cable, and as of now there is no technology to swap in new batteries.

The technology Star Catcher has presented aims to break through this limitation. Star Catcher calls its technology an ‘optical power beam’.

The core is to ‘refine’ ordinary sunlight so that only wavelengths ideal for solar panels to generate power are selected. It is then ‘concentrated’ into a powerful beam and fired at the solar panels of multiple satellites in Earth orbit.

Star Catcher explained in its official materials, “Each satellite can receive the beam without modifying its existing solar panels.” Satellites need only deploy their solar panels as usual. Although it has been processed, the beam is still essentially sunlight, which brings advantages. It can save the cost and time needed to implement a new technology.

If commercialized, the outcome would be striking. Star Catcher projects that the solar panels of satellites struck by the beam would generate 2 to 10 times more power than when exposed to ordinary sunlight.

Through this, satellites can secure power to run onboard electronics easily and quickly. It would make satellites akin to smartphones on an ultra-fast wireless charger. By analogy with people, it is like taking a factory-made tablet rather than eating a fruit such as a tangerine to ingest a large dose of vitamin C.

Star Catcher plans to fire this beam not outdoors on Earth but in space next year, moving to full-fledged field demonstrations. The company plans to place a facility resembling a large mirror in Earth orbit, concentrate sunlight to form a beam, and then shine it on nearby satellites like a flashlight beam.

If commercialized, the technology is expected to accelerate the recent trend of mounting artificial intelligence (AI) on satellites. AI can automatically track ground targets that a satellite must photograph or automatically filter out low-quality images among those captured. It is a means to raise operational efficiency.

Star Catcher said, “Using AI equipment on satellites requires a great deal of power.” At present, it is difficult to mount many cutting-edge graphics processing units (GPUs), which consume a lot of power, on satellites, but creating a highly concentrated sunlight beam and sending it to each satellite may open a breakthrough.

The technology could be used beyond satellites. A representative location would be a lunar base. Star Catcher stated, “On the Moon, there are two-week stretches of continuous night every month, and some regions receive no light permanently,” adding, “In such places, it could help various exploration instruments produce energy reliably.”