Virtus Solis aims to pilot its space-based solar tech in 2027.
Solar power is the cheapest source of electricity in history. But since it isn't always sunny, and battery storage is still fairly expensive, a handful of startups are working on a different approach: putting solar panels in space and sending the power back to Earth. In space, as one Caltech researcher put it, it's "always noon on a sunny day." The basic idea isn't new—space-based solar power was mentioned in a sci-fi story in 1941, and NASA began studying it in the 1970s. Historically, it hasn't been financially feasible. But some engineers working on the technology believe that has now changed. [Image: Virtus Solis] "More than 50 years ago, the physics were proved out," says Ed Tate, cofounder and chief technology officer at Virtus Solis, an early-stage startup that announced today that it aims to pilot its space-based solar tech in orbit in 2027. "In the past couple of years, the engineering has been accepted as being possible. The real transition here is the economics—we think that now, with all the trends that are there, that the economics are viable." The company plans to put solar panels in medium Earth orbit, and then use robots to automatically assemble them into large arrays—ultimately, hundreds of thousands of satellites connected together like Lego blocks. Each hexagonal satellite, around five feet wide, has built-in solar panels on one side, electronics in the middle, and antennas on the other side. Instead of moving the power through electrons in wires, it would be sent back to Earth using photons…