Space Solar Power: Arthur Flux's Innovative Energy Solution

Arthur Flux aims to revolutionize energy by beaming solar power from satellites to Earth.

### Harnessing Space Solar Power: The Future of Energy Distribution
* 🌌 Arthur Flux aims to transform the concept of **space solar power**, originally proposed by NASA, into a practical solution for **global energy needs** by collecting solar power in orbit.
* 🔭 The technology involves a **constellation of satellites in low-Earth orbit** that collect solar energy and transmit it to Earth using **infrared lasers directed at bespoke ground stations**.
* 💡 Co-founder’s passion for physics and space, stemming from a family background at NASA, drives the mission to **utilize space technology for practical applications on Earth**.
* 💰 Initial funding is provided by the co-founder, with plans to seek **additional capital to build a large number of satellites for energy distribution**.
* 🌍 The company aims to address **immediate energy challenges** on Earth, particularly in **contested or hard-to-reach areas**, including military bases and remote mining operations.
* ⚙ The focus is on **applying existing technologies** rather than theoretical physics, viewing the project as an **engineering and economics challenge** rather than a quest for scientific breakthroughs.
* 🚀 Arthur Flux is in discussions with launch providers like SpaceX to facilitate the deployment of their first mission, targeting a **launch in late 2024 or early 2025**.

It's out of science fiction, but you can kind of see it. So explain the basics of the technology, how this would work. Yeah, so thanks for having me on. Like I said, the name of the company is Arthur Flux, and the mission is to take this idea of space solar power, which is an old NASA Department of Energy idea, and make it a real-life thing. And the basic concept is you collect solar power in orbit. And by doing so, you're able to beam it down to locations virtually globally. And by doing so, address a lot of the limitations of renewable energy and the intermittency to address what the audience might be wondering. I know you as one of the co-founders of Robin Hood's. Your background, though, is in physics. You have a family tied to NASA. How did this company come about? Yeah. So my love of physics and the space industry actually goes back a really long time.

So I grew up with my dad studying physics in the United States. He worked at NASA when I was a kid, and I studied physics and math at Stanford. And so I've kind of had a love of the space industry from childhood and through building Robin Hood, the passion for looking for commercial opportunities in space. How could we make space technology useful for people on Earth has kind of been a love of mine for a long time. And in particular, asking the question about how can we bring natural resources from space down to Earth? And I think energy is one of the natural choices for that. Bringing it down from space to Earth. You said beam it down, like get into the nitty-gritty. How does one beam it down? Yeah. So the way that we're going to be transferring power from space to Earth is actually using a constellation of satellites in low-Earth orbit. And each one collects power and then uses infrared lasers to find a ground station and actually transmit power down.

to it. So in the same way that you collect solar power with solar power, traditional panels, with this, you'll have a bespoke ground station that forms a connection with a satellite and receives power from space. So where companies like SpaceX have launched a constellation of communications satellites, this would be a constellation of energy satellites. You're financially backing this by you? Obviously, with the help of a very successful startup you were co-CEO of previously. What is the funding that will be necessary? Who will you bring on board? How much will this cost? So right now, the company is funded by me. But as we grow the company, you know, we're talking about building a large number of satellites. So it'll take more capital to do that in terms of the scaling of the business. One of the opportunities that we're looking at in the near term is going to be how can we solve problems that are real on planet Earth today?

And the stuff that we're focusing on is how can we deliver power to places that are either contested or difficult to reach? So think military applications like for deployed bases or things like remote mining applications? Got to ask. Sounds amazing, but are we talking theoretical physics or are we talking applied physics? Yeah. So this was one of the core ideas behind this approach, which is we view this as primarily an engineering and economics problem, not a hard science problem. So this is not the sort of company where we're looking to make a breakthrough in science, but rather how can we take technologies that exist today where even other industries are maturing them and use those technologies to create something that can happen today? You will need a launch provider to put you to orbit. What is your relationship with SpaceX Rocket Lab, the other providers out there? Yeah. So we're talking to launch providers right now. We're still in the early stages.

We're talking to SpaceX, as you mentioned, and we're targeting a launch of our first mission, which will aim to demonstrate this capability. Q4 of next year, Q1, the year after.

Securing Renewable Energy from Space

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Arthur Flux aims to make space solar power a reality by collecting solar energy in orbit and beaming it down to Earth, addressing renewable energy limitations.

The company's co-founder has a background in physics and a family tie to NASA, driving his passion for using space technology to benefit people on Earth.

Power transfer will be done through a constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites using infrared lasers to transmit energy to ground stations.

The company aims to create a constellation of energy satellites to provide power from space, similar to traditional solar power collection.

The founder is currently self-funding the venture, with plans to scale up and address real-world problems, such as delivering power to contested or remote areas.

The approach focuses on engineering and economics, using existing technologies to create a viable energy solution, while exploring partnerships with launch providers for satellite deployment.

The first mission, in collaboration with SpaceX, is targeted for launch in Q4 of next year or Q1 of the following year.

The mission aims to demonstrate a specific capability.

The planning and discussions with SpaceX are currently underway.