Çelik, O. and McInnes, C. R. (2024) A constellation design for orbiting solar reflectors to enhance terrestrial solar energy. Acta Astronautica, 217, pp. 145-161. (doi: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2024.01.031)
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Abstract
Orbiting solar reflectors (OSRs) are flat, thin and lightweight reflective structures that are proposed to enhance terrestrial solar energy generation by illuminating large terrestrial solar power plants locally around dawn/dusk and during night hours. The incorporation of OSRs into terrestrial energy systems may offset the daylight-only limitation of terrestrial solar energy. However, the quantity of solar energy delivered to the Earth’s surface remains low due to short duration of orbital passes and the low density of the reflected solar power due to large slant ranges. To compensate for these, this paper proposes a constellation of multiple reflectors in low-Earth orbit for scalable enhancement of the quantity of energy delivered. Circular near-polar orbits of 1000 km altitude in the terminator region are considered in a Walker-type constellation for a preliminary analysis. Starting from a simplified approach, the equations of Walker constellations describing the distribution of the reflectors are first modified by introducing a phasing parameter to ensure repeating pass-geometry over solar power farms. This approach allows for a single groundtrack optimisation to define the constellation, which was carried out by a genetic algorithm for single and two reflectors per orbit with an objective function defined as the total quantity of energy delivered per day, to existing and hypothetical solar power projects around the Earth. When full-scale constellations are considered with a number of reflectors, the quantity of solar energy delivered is substantial in the broader context of global terrestrial solar energy generation.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 883730). CRM is also supported by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the Royal Academy of Engineering under the Chair in Emerging Technologies programme. |
| Keywords: | Space-based solar energy, orbiting solar reflectors, satellite constellations, astrodynamics, genetic optimisation. |
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | McInnes, Professor Colin and Celik, Dr Onur |
| Authors: | Çelik, O., and McInnes, C. R. |
| College/School: | College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy |
| Journal Name: | Acta Astronautica |
| Publisher: | Elsevier |
| ISSN: | 0094-5765 |
| ISSN (Online): | 1879-2030 |
| Published Online: | 30 January 2024 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2024 The Authors |
| First Published: | First published in Acta Astronautica 217: 145-161 |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced under a Creative Commons License |
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