Constellation-Level Power Allocation for LEO Space-Based Solar Power
For researchers and engineers in space-based solar power, this provides the first detailed simulation-based study of LEO SBSP constellations, revealing realistic power delivery levels and rectenna sizing requirements.
This paper introduces a novel LEO SBSP system model and simulates a 20-satellite constellation, finding peak DC power delivery of 1.986 MW and mean per-site delivery of 40-75 kW, with incident power density below ICNIRP limits.
Space-based solar power (SBSP) has recently gained renewed attention as an appealing technological advancement for providing continuous clean energy using space-based infrastructure. However, the potential of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations for SBSP remains largely unexplored and lacks detailed simulation-based studies. In this paper, we introduce a novel LEO SBSP system model and conduct a 24-hour system-level simulation of a Walker $4\times 5$ LEO SBSP constellation at an altitude of 450\,km, beaming 2.45\,GHz microwave power to eight ground stations (GSs) under a greedy allocation policy. The model includes orbital propagation, eclipse cycles, the satellite power chain, Goubau--Brown beam coupling, ITU-R P.618 atmospheric attenuation, and onboard battery dynamics. The results confirm that the peak DC power delivered reaches 1.986\,MW, while the mean per-site delivery at the served GS ranged from 40 to 75\,kW. Two of the eight GSs received no service during the run, as their passes were consistently ranked lower under the greedy policy than competing links at the same step. The incident peak power density (PD) at the rectenna remained within the 3.35--5.72\,W/m\textsuperscript{2} range, below the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) general-public exposure limit. For a 20-satellite Walker LEO at this altitude, realistic per-site delivery is 50--100 kW, and the rectenna should be sized to the operational incident PD of order 5,W/m\textsuperscript{2} rather than to a Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO)-era 100,W/m\textsuperscript{2} rating.