Our aim: £20M to the first team that generates electric power in orbit and safely beams it down to earth
To limit global warming we need to decarbonise electricity production. Phasing out fossil fuels by 6% every year between 2020 and 2030.21 We also need to generate more electricity than we ever have before.
Renewable energy is key to solving this, but wind and solar power are intermittent sources – they don’t generate electricity when the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t shine. But there is a place devoid of clouds, and where the sun shines virtually 24 hours a day.
Over the next decade, we need to bridge an investment gap of $4 trillion into clean energy to reach net zero.
Space-based solar power technology needs government backing to give it credibility and crowd in public funding. Challenges have a proven track record of incentivising innovation and setting an ambitious shared mission.
The DARPA Grand Challenges did this for autonomous vehicles in the early 2000s – a challenge prize could do the same for this exciting new energy frontier.
This challenge will drive forward the technology needed to harness solar energy in space – high above the clouds, outside of the cycle of night and day we have on earth.
The space sector is excited by the opportunity, but needs investment and government support to commit. The challenge will stimulate this nascent market and incentivise innovators to come together and experiment.
Achieving its ambitious goal will require an interdisciplinary approach to R&D and bold demonstrations of achieving milestones on the way to orbit. To succeed, advances in power beaming technology and spacecraft design, new capabilities in constructing, servicing and maintaining in-orbit facilities are needed.
And it requires the launch of the biggest satellites – by far – in history.
Smaller awards will be offered along the way for teams which develop key enabling technologies. Major funding will be funnelled to the most promising ideas that will bring us closer to the goal of beaming power from orbit.
Get in touch if you are interested in collaborating on this future prize.
This prize idea is designed to be a conversation starter, so tell us what you think!
The best prize ideas are developed through extensive research and engagement with experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience of the problems they are focused on. We start with a first draft like the one above – then work to improve, refine and validate our thinking.
We’re particularly keen to have conversations about this idea with potential funders and organisations working in the field. Get in touch if you’re interested – or if you think you have a better idea – and we’ll schedule a call.
Challenge Works has put together a report shedding light on the role of challenge prizes in revitalising the UK Innovation Strategy.
Challenge prizes can complement grants, reduce risk in portfolios of government innovation investments, and can be particularly effective at stimulating near-market innovation targeting specific outcomes and private R&D investment.
