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The ability to produce more electricity per weight compared to traditional silicon solar cells makes them highly suitable for sending into space to harvest the Sun’s energy, according to the researchers.

“High specific power is actually one of the greatest goals of any space-based light harvesting or energy harvesting technology,” said Deep Jariwala from the University of Pennsylvania.

“This is not just important for satellites or space stations, but also if you want real utility-scale solar power in space. The number of [silicon] solar cells you would have to ship up is so large that no space vehicles currently can take those kinds of materials up there in an economically viable way.”

Solar power is the fastest-growing form of renewable energy and currently accounts for 3.6% of global electricity production today. This makes it the third largest source of the renewable energy market, followed by hydroelectric power and wind. These three methods are expected to grow exponentially in the coming decades, reaching 40% by 2035 and 45% by 2050. Altogether, renewables are expected to account for 90% of the energy market by mid-century, with solar accounting for roughly half. However, several technical challenges and issues need to be overcome for this transition to occur.

The main limiting factor for solar power is intermittency, meaning it can only collect power when sufficient sunlight is available. To address this, scientists have spent decades researching space-based solar power (SBSP), where satellites in orbit would collect power 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, without interruption. To develop the technology, researchers with the Space Solar Power Project (SSPP) at Caltech recently completed the first successful wireless power transfer using the Microwave Array for Power-transfer Low-orbit Experiment (MAPLE).

Continue reading “New Satellite Successfully Beams Power From Space” »

Read more about SpaceX launches 22 second-generation Starlink satellites into orbit on Devdiscourse.

Saturn has become the first planet to exceed 100 known moons!

The discovery of 63 new moons of Saturn is reported by the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, bringing the gas giant’s total confirmed number to 146 and overtaking Jupiter.

Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in our Solar System, has long captivated astronomers and space enthusiasts. In addition to its striking and beautiful ring system, the gas giant has a vast array of natural satellites.

JIUQUAN — China sent three astronauts to its Tiangong space station on Tuesday, putting a civilian into orbit for the first time as it pursues plans to send a crewed mission to the Moon by the end of the decade.

The world’s second-largest economy has invested billions of dollars in its military-run space program in a push to catch up with the United States and Russia.

Continue reading “China launches mission with first civilian to space station” »

The spacecraft that the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) hopes to land on the moon later this year, has been wheeled into the country’s spaceport, Satish Dhawan Space Centre, WION has learnt.

Named as Chandrayaan-3 (Sanskrit for Moon Vehicle-3), this will be India’s third lunar mission and will attempt both controlled soft-landing on the lunar surface and in-situ analysis by the means of a rover.

In the evening hours on Friday, the slow-moving, specialised truck ferrying the spacecraft from UR Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru arrived at India’s spaceport, under a security blanket.

Electron, Rocket Lab’s small satellite launch vehicle, launched twice, just ~2 weeks apart from the companies Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand to deliver the 4 CubeSat constellation to orbit.

Payload deployment confirmed! Congratulations to the launch team on our 37th Electron launch, and to our mission partners at @NASA @NASA_LSP @NASAAmes: the TROPICS constellation is officially on orbit! pic.twitter.com/xAy7ltg7m1

The two missions, dubbed ‘Rocket Like a Hurricane’ and ‘Coming to a Storm Near You,’ contain two 11.8-lb (5.34 kg) CubeSats each delivered to a 30-degree orbital inclination in order for the constellation to monitor tropical systems forming in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean and will be capable of performing scans about once every hour.

BlackSky Technology and Spire Global have teamed up to create a real-time, commercially available Maritime Custody Service that can automatically detect, identify and track more than 270 thousand vessels worldwide in open water, along rivers and canals, and while docked at port.

The system uses data from Spire’s radio frequency-monitoring satellite constellation to detect emissions from maritime targets, including the ability to detect and locate dark vessels that manipulate their reported position in order to conceal nefarious activities. Then, BlackSky’s satellites automatically tip-and-cue to collect imagery and analyze the images using artificial intelligence to detect vessels, classify each vessel by type, estimate cargo and monitor change over time.

“BlackSky and Spire have developed a very cost-effective and flexible vessel tracking service capable of delivering on-demand maritime intelligence at scale,” said Patrick O’Neil, chief innovation officer at BlackSky. “The unique AI-driven system reduces end-to-end latency across the entire tasking, collection, processing, exploitation, and dissemination process. With interoperability in mind, the MCS provides an easy-to-use autonomous, continuous and predictive maritime tracking capability directly into customer hands.”

The two Macau Science 1 satellites lifted off atop a Long March 2C rocket on Sunday.

China launched two satellites designed to investigate and monitor Earth’s magnetic field changes at 4 pm local time on Sunday, May 21, at the Jiuquan launch site in the Gobi Desert.

The mission called Macau Science 1 lifted a pair of satellites weighing 500kg (1,100lbs) each atop a Long March 2C rocket. It is the first Chinese space mission operated as part of a partnership with scientists in Macau, according to a report by the South China Morning Post.