Tell Congress to support space-based solar power research!

A bold new startup called Overview Energy has exited stealth mode after a successful demonstration of beaming power from a moving plane to a ground-based receiver. They’ve already raised over $20 million for their plan to further develop this technology into building space-based solar power satellite clusters that can collect energy and then beam it as safe and invisible near-infrared light to power pre-existing on-the-ground solar farms around the world. If Overview can pull it off, the idea has extraordinary potential to “upgrade” existing solar panels to become 24/7 baseload power, switching from sunlight during the day to satellite beam receivers at night.

“Imagine sunlight collected 36,000 kilometers above Earth, then arriving as clean energy wherever the grid needs it.

That’s what we’re making real.

Our airborne milestone proved that the core transmission system works in motion—the same foundation that will operate in orbit.

Space solar energy will only matter when it powers real demand on Earth, and we’re designing for that scale from day one.”

— Marc Berte, Founder and CEO of Overview Energy.

This is a new milestone in the still-young but fast-progressing field of space-based solar power, raising hopes that a decades-long dream of limitless clean power could be nearing reality. In 2023, the Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD) satellite from Caltech successfully used microwave transmitters to beam solar power collected in low Earth orbit back to the surface, a first-ever fully functional proof of concept.

Aetherflux, another U.S. startup, has already raised $50 million in funding for its space-based solar power plans. And the Chinese Academy of Engineering is actively working on plans for a massive 1-kilometer solar array in space, to be eventually assembled with pieces launched by the Long March-9 heavy-lifter rockets currently in development.

Humanity already has amazing solar and battery technology ready to go on the ground, and there might be even more clean energy potential in space someday. Congress should prioritize unleashing U.S. solar and battery power development, and furthermore actively promote development of space-based solar power through supportive legal and regulatory policy.

Tell Congress to support space-based solar power research!