Experimental Radio News 15
In this issue: Laser power in space, scanning thousands for hidden weapons, batteries from nuke waste; asteroid mining, burritos, broadband, speech without talking, shortwave stations: hints of what's next – and a plea for peace through Bluetooth jamming.
Welcome back. Here are some of the most intriguing new experimental and demonstration licenses and license applications. These first two utilize optical power transmission, but for different markets.
Space-based power directed to satellites
Star Catcher is developing a space-based energy infrastructure that delivers electricity on demand to spacecraft using optical power beaming. The company has raised a total of $88 million in capital.
Its latest goal is to demonstrate power transmission from its Astro Digital-manufactured Protostar spacecraft, assigned WQ2XMZ, to its Protocatcher spacecraft WQ2XJR built by NearSpace Launch. (The FCC assigned these satellites callsigns, but still lists their status as Pending at this writing.)
“The Star Catcher Network delivers power wirelessly to client satellites with seamless compatibility across existing satellite systems, enabling up to 10x more power generation than onboard systems alone,” the company said. “The grid works by collecting and concentrating diffuse sunlight, refining it into wavelengths optimized for standard satellite solar panels, and beaming it precisely to client satellites.”
Space-based power directed to Earth
Aetherflux was issued WQ2XEW for its Reason-1 satellite. Its mission is to convert sunlight into electricity and transmit the power to a ground station on Earth.
“This innovative approach to the collection and transmission of extraterrestrial solar power has the potential to provide power for remote locations and many other public and private applications,” the company told the FCC.
The sole owner of Aetherflux is billionaire Baiju Bhatt, cofounder of the Robinhood stock trading platform.