A new study by a Beijing research team warns that powerful lasers from space-based solar power stations beaming energy to Earth could pose serious risks to other satellites in the increasingly crowded low-Earth orbit. If these beams miss their targets due to tracking errors or system malfunctions, they could strike nearby spacecraft, overheat solar panels, or trigger electrical discharges.
As China pushes to take the global lead in building space-based solar power stations, a new study warns of potential risks to satellites. Conducted by a team from the Beijing Institute of Satellite Environment Engineering, the research was reported in the January issue of the Chinese journal High Power Laser and Particle Beams.
The study finds that potential electrical discharges, though brief, could induce abnormal currents in spacecraft systems, potentially damaging on-board electronics and forcing an emergency shutdown. The risk is greater when the laser beam is more energetic or uses shorter wavelengths. “Our findings provide guidance for selecting safer laser parameters and for designing protective measures for satellite solar arrays,” the researchers wrote in the paper.
The idea of harvesting solar energy in space and sending it wirelessly to Earth was first proposed by Czech-born American scientist Peter Glaser in the 1960s. Unlike ground-based solar power, space solar power offers uninterrupted energy, unaffected by weather, nightfall, or atmospheric interference. Early concepts relied on microwave transmission and required massive kilometre-scale structures, making the system too complex and costly at the time. Recent progress in reusable rockets, lightweight materials, and precise beam control has renewed global interest.
Today, countries including the United States, Japan, China, and European nations are racing to develop the technology. The US is in the lead, aided by a Caltech-led prototype in 2023 that demonstrated beamed power in orbit. Keywords like SpaceX, Caltech, and Starlink highlight the crowded low-Earth orbit reality.
