"The US and China each have very innovative space programs, and one area, for example, where the US and China could work together today would be space-based solar," said Daniel Kammen, a professor of energy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the founding director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory.
Space-based solar power, which involves collecting solar energy via satellites in space and transmitting it back to Earth, is gaining momentum globally. As countries ramp up research and development in this field, there is a growing international push towards achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The decreasing costs of space launches are making the deployment of large, kilometer-square mylar solar panels-capable of beaming power back to Earth using microwaves-increasingly viable.
Kammen, who contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Nobel Peace Prize-winning report in 2007, suggested that the US and China could challenge each other to make space-based solar power a reality. He noted, "Space-based solar is on 24/7. There is no nighttime in space. And so, adding space-based solar could be beaming power to Los Angeles to Beijing, to Guangzhou to Shenzhen to San Francisco."
Both nations have made considerable advancements in this field. In the US, Caltech's space solar power prototype, launched last year, successfully demonstrated wireless power transmission in space and even managed to beam detectable power back to Earth.
NASA is also working on technologies that could benefit space-based solar power, focusing on autonomous systems, wireless power beaming, and in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing, as noted in a report from earlier this year.
China has made significant progress toward building a space solar power station, with the China Academy of Space Technology planning a space high-voltage transfer and wireless power transmission experiment in low Earth orbit by 2028, according to its 2022 publication in China Space Science and Technology.
Kammen acknowledged the political challenges of such collaboration, particularly concerning data and information-sharing. Despite these obstacles, he identified other areas of potential cooperation, such as fusion power.
He pointed to advanced research at Tsinghua University and China's fusion reactor as areas where joint efforts in deployment and research could be beneficial.
Kammen also drew parallels to the film *The Martian*, where a joint US-China effort rescues an American astronaut stranded on Mars. He saw this as a metaphor for how the two nations could collaborate in reality, leveraging their technological strengths to achieve mutual goals.
"There's an opportunity to work peacefully together in space, to show that no matter who's going to be on the moon next, we have a chance to do clean energy in space as a bridge," Kammen said. With both countries interested in lunar exploration, the discovery of water ice on the moon opens new possibilities. Resources on the moon, Mars, and asteroids present further opportunities for joint ventures that could protect each nation's intellectual property while benefiting both.
Kammen emphasized the importance of seizing this opportunity, especially given the urgency of climate action. "We're going to need those breakthroughs because both the US and China are behind schedule to meet their climate goals," he said.
The US aims to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030, while China targets carbon neutrality by 2060.
Related Links
Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory
Climate Science News - Modeling, Mitigation Adaptation
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