Power as A Resource
- Paper number
IAC-17,D4,5,3,x37797
- Author
Mr. Roger X. Lenard, LPS, United States
- Year
2017
- Abstract
The advent of readily available, affordable power in high quality form has transformed Earth far for the better. Large amounts of power enabled the industrial Revolution, which dramatically improved the fortunes and quality of life of those nations which embraced it. The discovery of electrical power further transformed the world, as electricity was the only form of energy that was effectively weightless and could be transferred from place-to-place at extremely high rates. Power and energy have been a primary resource in space since the inception of spaceflight. All of our spacecraft, manned or unmanned, military, civilian, or commercial, deep space, orbiting celestial bodies or in orbit around Earth have all required electrical power. While not thought of as a resource, electrical power is the engine of space commerce as well. Space power is the engine of space-based telecommunications, remote sensing and Earth Observation, all now being accomplished in a revenue-generating sense. Space-based telecommunications is a $127B/year enterprise, all feasible because of space power. Space power converts the continuous stream of in-space photons into electricity; the photons are free, but the equipment to convert them into electrical power is very expensive, ~$3,000/installed Watt, not including the cost of launch. A typical space solar array has an operational life of about 12 years, during which time it can generate, (including diminution in performance), ~90 kWh of electricity (not counting inefficiencies). If launch costs are excluded this is a cost of about $33/kWh, or about the cost of electricity at a generator-based diesel generating system in a far-forward remote operating military base. In space, such costs are dwarfed by the revenue generated by telecommunications satellites. In the area of space mineral resources, almost all resources are chemically bound in the form of (typically) some oxide; almost nothing (except perhaps iron deposits on the Moon) exists in elemental form. In order to form useful commodities, resources must be extracted, beneficiated, stored and transported to the place of final use. All this requires energy. One of the major initial commodities to be used in large scale could be propellants; LOX-LH2 is the highest chemical energy form routinely used in space. Electrolyzing water for propellants is frequently mentioned as an early revenue source, some companies have set propellant price targets. This paper will address various markets for space power and the conditions under which various missions can produce a viable return on investment.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
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