The beaming of solar power from space back down to earth using lasers sounds like science fiction, and was even floated in an Isaac Asimov short story back in the 1940s. But that is exactly what a California-based startup is testing: Mini solar farms in the form of low-orbit satellites. California-based startup Aetherflux plans to send its satellite technology into orbit on a SpaceX rocket next year. Robinhood
co-founder Baiju Bhatt is the company’s CEO. “We’re going to do a constellation of satellites where each one transmits power with infrared lasers,” said Bhatt. “And the benefits of this are, number one, you get to distribute the power generation across a lot of satellites, as opposed to one monolithic one, but also the spot that you’re able to project onto the ground — the actual thing that collects the power — you can make small.” Solar power would be collected in space and then beamed down through lasers wirelessly to a network of small, ground power stations. Having several stations to collect energy makes the satellite system more efficient. “You may have one satellite that’s projecting power to one location on the ground, and as it keeps moving around the earth, it’ll find another ground station and start projecting power there,” Bhatt explained.

Full report : California-based startup Aetherflux is working on a satellite constellation that would send solar power back to Earth.

For more see the OODA Company Profile on Aetherflux.