Space-Based Solar Power Explained in 5 Minutes │ Former Solar Lead and Space Energy Insights CEO Sanjay Vijendran

Space-based solar power: what it is, why it wasn’t viable for decades, and what’s changed?

ESA’s Former Solar Lead and Space Energy Insights CEO Sanjay Vijendran explains how power beaming works, what’s been proven, and the engineering still to solve.

What you’ll learn (in 5 minutes)

🛰️ Why the idea stalled for 50+ years and why falling launch/assembly costs now matter. 

🛰️ How wireless power transmission actually works (no cable, no new physics) and what’s been demonstrated since the 1960s. 

🛰️ A real test: 2 kW beamed across 36 m in 2022, used to light a model city, run electrolysis, and even cool beers, within safety limits. 

🛰️ Near-term vs. long-term uses: megawatt delivery to remote sites vs. gigawatt-scale plants that could power cities. 

🛰️ The big hurdle: scaling antennas/rectennas and building kilometer-scale modular arrays assembled by robots in orbit. 

Please enjoy the show. And share with a curious friend. 

Stay disruptive, be curious, keep Thinking On Paper.

📺 Watch the full show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53c08ygOFyc&t=1074s

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Timestamps

(00:00) Why Energy Poverty Still Matters

(01:26) How Beaming Power Actually Works

(04:09) The Big Problem: Scaling It Up

(04:56) Can It Ever Be Affordable?

(07:19) Building Solar Farms in Space

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