The Van Trump Report

Space-Based Solar Power Could Help Curb Farmland Loss

Amber waves of grain have given way to fields of solar panels across wide swaths of rural America. While some say the amount of farmland taken out of production is so small (less than 0.5%) that its loss won’t be felt, others say taking even small amounts of the best cropland out of production threatens U.S. security, not to mention rural communities. However, a new approach from startup “Aetherflux” could end the land use debate altogether by putting solar panels in space.

No hard figures are available on how much U.S. farmland is currently dedicated to solar panels. According to USDA data, between 2012 and 2020, 43% of solar farms were built on land previously used for crops and 21% on land once dedicated to pasture or rangeland. Based on this and other data, Farm Bureau economists estimate some 1.25 million acres of farmland have been converted for use in solar production, which would represent 0.14% of the 879 million acres of farmland in the U.S.

While that does not seem like a lot of land in the overall scheme of things, the biggest concern is that solar farms are going to be put on top of some of the most productive U.S. soils. And by doing so, that land could be rendered unusable for farming in the future due to soil compaction and potential changes to drainage channels during solar farm installation and maintenance.

Generating solar power in outer space would solve much of the land use worries. Known as “space-based” solar, the idea has been around for decades. Previous concepts have included using large satellite arrays in geostationary orbit that would transmit their power using microwaves to large receivers on the ground. Various proposals have been researched since the 1970s but none have been economically or technologically feasible.

Startup “Aetherflux” has devised a modular system that can overcome some of the earlier technical challenges. “Our main observation is the reason it hasn’t happened is because that design is not one that you can iterate on,” said Baiju Bhatt, founder and chief executive of Aetherflux.

Aetherflux’s modular concept will use a constellation of small satellites in low Earth orbit that the company can iteratively develop. Power transmission from the satellites to Earth will employ an infrared laser, “something that you can actually make on an arbitrarily small spacecraft,” adds Bhatt.

The company plans to demonstrate its technology with a small concept spacecraft about 500 km (310.686 miles) above the planet in late-2025 to early-2026. The test run will be a  “kilowatt-class” spacecraft built by “Apex” that will transmit power using an infrared laser to the ground. If it’s successful, it will set a distance record for how far power can be transmitted, according to Bhatt.  The “stretch goal,” Bhatt said, is to eventually have each satellite send enough energy back to Earth to power a small neighborhood.

The company is initially targeting defense applications, such as forward operating bases where “the supply chain and getting fuel out to somewhere is really challenging,” Bhatt said. “If we can make that business model work, that’s kind of the jumping-off point to being able to say, hey, could we put this on things like freight shipping?” Bhatt said.

Some may recognize Bhatt’s name from another company he co-founded – online financial platform “Robinhood.” With an estimated net worth of around $2.5 billion, Bhatt says he is self-funding Aetherflux, providing in “the ten-millionish range” that is sufficient to get the company through that first demo mission. Learn more about Aetherflux HERE.  (Sources: SpaceNews, TechCrunch, Ars Technica)

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