The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
A concept image of a future in-orbit demonstrator for space-based solar power.
Sunlight up in Earth orbit is ten times more intense than down on Earth’s surface, so the idea is to fly dedicated satellites to capture solar energy, then beam it down to Earth – and potentially the Moon or other planets further into the future.
A new ESA Discovery project is looking into a key part of the space-based solar power process: how to convert a large amount of solar power into a useful form, then transport it down to the ground as efficiently as possible?
The basic concept dates back more than a century to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, one of the original prophets of space travel, then developed in detail by Czech-born engineer Peter Glaser from the 1970s onward.
ESA has been collecting new ideas for technologies and concepts to advance the development of space-based solar power through its Open Space Innovation Platform.