Earth’s Energy Lessons from Space

“I see Earth! It is so beautiful,” were the words of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. It was 1961 when as a pilot of the satellite-spaceship Vostok that the young Gagarin won the hearts and minds of people across the world. He also said, “Circling Earth in my orbital spaceship I marvelled at the beauty of our planet. People of the world, let us safeguard and enhance its beauty – not destroy it!” Fifty years on Gagarin’s words resonate with an even greater force.

Adventures into space allow us to further explore the mysteries of what seems to be an ever expanding universe. An essential industry has been developed from the unique orbiting and monitoring positions of satellites. Continuously available high performance technologies developed in the construction of satellites are now able to provide citizens, businesses, and regional and national authorities with significant information to aid us in finding solutions to some of our energy problems.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is now looking at ways to help energy production, transportation, consumption, and security. Data collected over the past years from Earth observation (EO) satellites can be used to support the identification of adequate locations for wind, wave, or solar energy power plants. Meteorological satellites enhance weather forecasting, which helps in the prediction of short-term energy production and the integration of large-scale renewable energy plants into the "smart-grid" of electricity networks. Secure and efficient transportation and the maintenance of power grids are increasingly relying on information supplied by telecommunication and navigation satellites.

Low-consumption solutions

These essential space tools have also been able to add to geomagnetic information used for efficient oil drilling, especially in remote regions such as the vast desert regions of North Africa. International Space Station laboratories are able to host experiments aimed at developing new materials and fuels, or characterising potential reservoirs to trap carbon dioxide.

The "EO value chain", where Earth observation data is turned into information services, is an example of the way technologies developed for harsh space environments can be transferred to innovative high-efficiency, low-consumption solutions for Earth energy systems.

Raw EO data from what is known as "backscatter" can be used to produce very detailed "wind rose" charts for highly localised locations. This can then can be fed into a software application that allows wind turbines to be developed to produce increased performance in locations that are not always recognised from ground-level surveying. This is of particular importance for coastal wind energy turbine development where the coastal wind magnitude can be measured from space and other global data.

With increasing demands on energy from high-cost, high-risk use of the old fossil fuels, uranium, and other nuclear fuels, our need to harness the power of the sun increases daily. Solar sensors on geostationary satellites, such as the Meteostat Second Generation, supply radiance observations every 15 minutes with up to 1 km resolution. Timely delivery of data allows rapid detection of weather and dust conditions to improve the performances of photovoltaic plants.

Solar thermal power has the benefit of a greater number of choices to integrate with the grid to provide reliable power. Instead of directly converting the sun’s rays into electricity, solar thermal plants use mirrored surfaces to concentrate sunlight to produce high temperatures and in turn produce high-efficiency, low-cost electricity.

While the current ESA Space-Energy programme is limited to wind, solar, and hydropower, there have also been important studies into understanding the special characteristics and effects of geomagnetic storms. In March 1989, geomagnetically induced currents melted the internal windings of a 500 kV transformer in the Salem Nuclear plant in New Jersey, USA. Increasing our knowledge from space monitoring can provide us with ways to improve the way we design and construct critical elements of energy production.

This January, over 50 experts from the ESA and the EU sought further collaborative programmes. There was broad consensus that space applications and technologies significantly contribute to improving energy supply and support the transition to a low-carbon economy, while creating new opportunities for growth and jobs. Further developments in the use of hydrogen and other zero-carbon energy sources would also take place.

But like so many other industries it was also noted that there needs to be greater educational interaction between the different disciplines found in the field of space science, with an inability to determine structured and systematic ways to achieve the desired energy solutions.

Read more … cooperation between energy and space sectors is multifaceted