[Exclusive] Korea to Launch Miniature Space Solar Power Satellite [Reading Science]

KARI and KEPCO E&C to Review Development Through Convergent Research This Year
Plan to Manufacture and Launch a Miniature Space Solar Power Satellite for Testing During Nuriho Additional Launch

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] South Korea is accelerating research and development to advance the era of space solar power generation. It has begun research on sending a microscale solar power satellite into orbit to transmit and receive power during the additional launch project of the Nuri rocket.

On the 23rd, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) announced that since March they have been conducting research on the advancement and lightweight design of wireless power transfer modules for aerospace use, which will continue until December. Through this, the two institutes plan to develop a microscale solar power satellite to be launched into orbit during the four additional Nuri rocket launches scheduled from next year, and test whether it can successfully transmit and receive electricity. They are also considering applying this technology to KARI’s ongoing high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle project. The two institutes will present these plans in detail at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) to be held in Paris, France, this September.

KARI will present the proposal for South Korea’s first space solar power system (SBSP), while KERI will introduce wireless power transfer technology for airborne mobile platforms that exchange power with targets moving in real time in the air. Starting this year, KERI plans to develop a device that uses Ka-band radio waves, which have good beam focusing characteristics, to transmit 1kW-class power to a target 1 km away regardless of weather or day and night, by collaborating with Chung-Ang University, Sungkyunkwan University, and private companies to create a compact system configuration.

Virtual image of NASA's space solar power satellite.

Space solar power generation is attracting attention as a new technology that can overcome the limitations of ground-based solar power generation. It can produce more than ten times the power regardless of weather, latitude, or day and night. The United States, China, Japan, and others are accelerating research aiming for megawatt-level power production in the 2030s and gigawatt-level in the 2040s. South Korea also officially began research by specifying it as a future game-changing technology in the 3rd Space Development Promotion Plan in 2018.

Choi Jun-min, senior researcher at KARI’s Future Innovation Research Center, said, "Through convergent research, we have started studying a plan to launch a microscale satellite during the additional Nuri rocket launches at a cost of about 10 billion KRW per unit for experiments," adding, "Since South Korea has limited territory and high latitude, which reduce the international competitiveness of solar power generation, space solar power generation is necessary as a base power source for clean energy."