University of Georgia proposes CubeSat solar power pathfinder

(SpaceEnergy) University of Georgia researchers have proposed a 6U CubeSat to demonstrate collection, storage and wireless relay of solar energy from low Earth orbit.

The Solar Incident Energy Relay Array (SIERA) mission would use SIERASat as a pathfinder for a future constellation designed to collect solar energy above the atmosphere and transmit it either to rectifying antennas on Earth or to neighbouring spacecraft.

The team said the spacecraft would operate from about 400km altitude and demonstrate the complete orbit-to-ground energy chain.

SIERASat is intended to reduce technical risk ahead of larger systems using wider apertures and coherent multi-satellite beamforming. The University of Georgia Small Satellite Research Laboratory design draws on deployable solar-array and coordinated-constellation technologies.

The work was presented at the Small Satellite Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 24 August. The conference paper became publicly available on 22 August.