The Space Economy can be more than Satellites
Grid Power via Laser Transmission
Orbiting Grid is named for its goal of transmitting power, generated in orbit, using lasers as virtual transmission lines. To reach this goal, we have designed a new type of laser with the reliability and scalability of power-grid infrastructure. Prior to building a grid in orbit, we’ll build lasers for the industrial laser market.
Science Fiction-to-Fact
Orbiting Grid grew out of the Skylight Concept, a proposal to power electric airliners from solar energy gathered in orbit and transmitted via laser to photovoltaic receivers on the airliners. Massive space lasers as part of the green transition read like science fiction, yet the one technology that didn’t exist at all was the right laser for the job.
The Right Laser for the Job
Today’s high power lasers are like boxy old tube televisions — cumbersome, size-limited, and filled with pieces that break. Orbiting Grid lasers are like your flat panel TV — few parts and scalable to cover your living room wall without pulling down the wall.
Our First Move into Space
DADAR (Debris Awareness, Deflection, and Removal): Horizon Proposal 101223124
For our first move into space, we have proposed DADAR (Debris Awareness, Deflection and Removal). In DADAR, our laser becomes the light source for a massive LiDAR system able to track all dangerous space junk (LiDAR = Light Detection and Ranging). That laser will be a 200kW version of an Orbiting Grid industrial laser.
DADAR’s orbiting platform and laser will prototype most of what’s needed for power beaming from orbit. From DADAR, we scale to power the plasma engines of space tugs and freighters. At that point, Skylight transitions from science fiction to business plan.
A Bit of Engineering
If you’ve read this far and you’re a laser person, you probably suspect that our basic design is an array of laser diodes. If all the diodes are at the same temperature, then the array emits a single beam (see Huygens’ Principle).
If you are a laser person, you also know it’s not that straightforward. The diode array contains many innovations and the heat exchanger to cool the array is a ten-fold improvement in the cooling of high-power electronics.
Find Us at Photonics West in 2025
At Photonics West this January, Orbiting Grid and Aston Laser Diodes, our laser technology partner, will describe the use of our Scalable Laser Emitter in power beaming and outline the technology behind SLEM™ — like micro-fluidics in thin plates of synthetic diamond.