Fill SpaceEU With SBSPs! Can Space-Based Solar Power Anchor Europe’s Answer to SpaceX?

It’s time to connect some dots. Dot Number 1 comes from Web Summit, which took place last week. It’s not so space focused, but there was a panel discussion on creating a European answer to SpaceX. It was a high-powered panel, as you’d expect from Web Summit, and it included Seraphim Capital CEO Mark Boggett, Skyrora CEO and Co-founder Volodymyr Levykin, and constellr VP Christian Mittermaier. Something that Levykin stated caught my attention; if Europe is to build a champion to take on SpaceX, those rockets need to launch frequently. It helps both the bottom line and the drawing board. More flights drops the unit price of the rocket, and iteration can happen at a rapid pace. Mittermaier responded by pointing out that those rockets need to be filled with a paying client’s payload.

One of the keys to SpaceX’ success has been its use as the launch for Starlink satellites. There are roughly 5600 Starlink satellites in orbit at the moment. That’s a huge anchor client for a launch company. Mittermaier told the attendees that Europe needs to determine what its anchor client will be. I think I have one for him.

SBSPs to the rescue

A direct Starlink competitor from Europe is not in the cards. OneWeb is just a different proposition, and it doesn’t have the appetite for satellites that Starlink has. GNSS constellations might provide some volume as well, but not the numbers needed.

Starlink disrupted telecommunications, and I hold that the anchor client for the European champion, nominally called SpaceEU, needs to disrupt at a similarly basic level. Manufacturing is certainly going to be shaken up with space based manufacturing, and companies such as Space Forge are at the forefront of that disruption. However, I don’t see the manufacturers launching dozens of factories multiple times per week.

What would disrupt an industry, fill urgent needs in Europe and provide lots of satellites to launch is Space Borne Solar Power, or SBSP. And with this comes the second dot. On 26th October Orbital Today published an item on the test that Space Solar and the City of Reykjavik will be running in 2030 to launch a SBSP producing 30MW of power and beaming it to the city. If it works, and I think it’s a matter of how well, rather than if, then series production and launch of SBSPs should commence as soon as possible.

SBSPs will provide an excellent alternative to terra-based power stations. There will have to be thousands of them providing power to communities. They would be no less secure than power plants on Earth, where at least one, namely Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, is being held hostage and operated by a hostile force. So, bring on the SBSPs, and SpaceEU, and maybe someone to think of a better name.