Life cycle assessment of the UK Space Energy Initiative technology roadmap

Wilson, Andrew R. and Vasile, Massimiliano and Oqab, Haroon B. (2023) Life cycle assessment of the UK Space Energy Initiative technology roadmap. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 76 (1). pp. 18-28. ISSN 0007-084X (https://doi.org/10.59332/jbis-076-01-0018)

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Abstract

This paper aims to provide an overview of the environmental footprint of the UK Space Energy Initiative (SEI) technology roadmap based on the CASSIOPeiA solar power satellite (SPS) system using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The information covers the time period from 2022 to 2080 and is relevant for five stratospheric SPS prototypes, five low Earth orbit (LEO) SPS prototypes and twenty-five full-scale CASSIOPeiA systems which are capable of generating 2 gigawatts (GW) of power each and delivering this directly to the grid. Each CASSIOPeiA system has been modelled on the assumption that it will operate at 2.45 gigahertz (GHz) with 4-sun Concentrated Photo-Voltaic (CPV) variant in geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) for an average lifetime of thirty years. Primary data was collected from the SEI Technical Working Group and is considered to be representative of the current SEI technology roadmap. This information was collected using a simple Excel Spreadsheet titled ‘SEI LCA 1.0’. The file contains relevant information pertinent to the content of this paper but was considered too large to attach as an annex. Despite this, it should be noted that whilst the majority of the collected data was considered to be robust and of a sufficiently high data quality, the manufacturing & production of the rectenna was mainly based on well-judged estimations and data extrapolations. The results indicate that the manufacturing & production of the offshore rectennas is a particular hotspot, drawing similarities to the findings of Wilson et al. (2020).

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