Powered from Space

India’s ambitious Mars Mission saw a successful launch today. The 1350 kg satellite was placed in an elliptical earth orbit from where it will be transfered into a heliocentric one and from there to Mars will be the last leap. The 400 million km odyssey will take around a year roughly, if everything goes smoothly.

The craft carries 850 kilograms of propellant and oxidiser. Propellant is the chemical mixture burned to produce thrust in rockets and consists of a fuel and an oxidizer. By controlling the flow of propellant to the combustion chamber, the engine can be throttled, stopped, or restarted. The main engine uses the bipropellant combination monomethyl hydrazine and dinitrogen tetroxide for orbit insertion and other manoeuvres. But the craft is largely powered by solar cells.

Some of Nasa’s deep space probes have relied mostly on a certain type of plutonium, plutonium-238. It powers these spacecraft with the heat of its natural decay. But plutonium-238 isn't found in nature; it's a byproduct of nuclear weaponry and tough to lay hands on! Solar power is preferable to plutonium because it is cheaper and has fewer safety concerns, but obviously will not work as the craft moves away from the sun. Fuel cells, devices that transform the chemical energy of hydrogen into electrical energy through their reaction with oxygen and feed the electricity to run an electric engine, were first employed in space missions in the 1960s. Due to their high efficiency and their water vapor emissions (no CO₂), hydrogen fuel cells have triggered global research efforts to reduce greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions. But they are costly and global research at present focuses on the automobile sector.

That is all about fuel for man’s ambitious space ventures. However, a by-product of the space missions throws up energy potentials for the energy-starved earth. For instance, with space shuttles becoming as risk-free as any flight, we could think of setting up solar arrays in space. Without the obstacles like rain, clouds and nighttime, these would receive more concentrated solar rays than they would on Earth. The panels also wouldn't be subject to the seasonal fluctuations that are unavoidable on Earth. Solar energy becomes ever present!

Solar panels would either be attached to orbiting satellites or stationed on the moon and the electricity created would be converted into microwaves and beamed down to Earth. Rectifying antennas on the ground would collect the microwaves and convert them back into electricity. Communications satellites already do something very similar when they transmit your cell phone conversations. Some people have even suggested that the solar panels could piggyback on communications satellites. Space-based solar power is a hot favourite as all of the necessary equipment and technology is already developed and understood.

Recent proposals talk of small satellites fitted with solar arrays circling the Earth continuously. They would be more manageable than huge ones and still produce considerable energy output. A satellite less than 1,000 feet (300 meters) across orbiting 300 miles (540 kilometers) above Earth could potentially power 1,000 homes. The major obstacle right now, as with any new technology, is cost. Launching, setting up and maintaining a solar farm on the moon would require vast amounts of manpower and money.

But just as space missions were once the subject of fiction, so also any new technology will seem tough. Not impossible. And energy is what the Blue Planet needs desperately, after food and water.

Plunging crisis

A 10 percent of the global population was plunged into a powerless state with the collapse of the northern grid that affected 670 million in northern parts of India. As trains and traffic signals ground to a halt, it was chaos everywhere. Hospitals and crematoria faced problems most unprepared for. Miners trapped below ground were rescued using generators. As the power corporation rushed to address the crisis, and a ‘power shuffle’ in the ministry sent ripples, big questions remained.

Why did it happen? Was it due to poor infrastructure? Or due to over drawing of power by states? Power consumption in India vastly exceeded available supply, due in part to high temperatures and drought. Many see the root of India’s electricity problem as due to a wobbly infrastructure combined with too little generation. Some blame it on “the non-availability of coal.” However, the quality of India’s domestic coal is largely too poor for recent-generation coal plants. More than half of India’s power-generation capacity of 205 gigawatts is coal-based, and Coal India Ltd., the world’s biggest coal producer, is unable to produce enough.

Free electricity to farmers who have been overdrawing owing to sinking water table and a reluctance among politicians to raise power tariffs have drained cash reserves of the utilities, leaving them incapable to address the infrastructure needs. The Central Electricity Authority has reported power deficits of more than 8% in recent months. As the demand surges, it remains doubtful if supply can catch up.

Meanwhile, solar capacity in the country has crossed 1000 MW mark, though mostly in Gujarat. There is also an additional 85 MW of off-grid PV solar. Gujarat Solar Park currently has scores of solar installations totaling about 600 MW, and it is planned to soon expand that capacity to about 1,000 MW. For the current fiscal year, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has set goals of adding another 800 MW of solar and 2,500 of wind. Off-grid solar might swell to 1,000 MW installed per year by 2016. From big to small, from centralised to localised, from one (energy source) to many -- only such a combined move will help ease the situation which is sure to get worser every day.