Space-based solar power: Resources and labour

Thousands of rocket launches and square kilometres of antenna

What this tab covers The natural resources (land, water, materials, fuel or feedstock) and the labour needed to capture this energy, per unit, with the reason each is needed.

The defining resource is launch capacity: thousands of tonnes in orbit per gigawatt. On the ground, rectennas need tens of square kilometres.

Natural resources

Resource	How much	Why it is needed
Launches and propellant	NASA: 2,321 launches for RD1 and 3,960 for RD2, 12 of every 13 being refuelling tankers. ESA study: 86 to 119 Starship launches per 1.44 GW system.¹²	Every kilogram must be lifted out of Earth's gravity, and reaching geostationary orbit needs refuelling in low orbit.
Mass in orbit (solar cells, structure, transmitters)	NASA's tables give 5.9 million kg (RD1) and 10 million kg (RD2), but its text gives 585 and 1,000 tonnes, ten times less, without explanation; the launch count (about 180 payload flights for RD1) fits the larger figure (calculated). ESA study: 2,064 tonnes per 1.44 GW satellite in its mass table but 1,816 tonnes in the text, with 2,491 tonnes lifted in total.¹²	Collecting gigawatts of sunlight and forming a narrow beam needs square kilometres of panels and antennas.
Solar panel area in orbit	11.5 km2 (RD1) and 19 km2 (RD2) for about 2 GW¹	Sunlight in orbit carries a fixed power per square metre, so output scales with area.
Land for rectennas	NASA RD1: one 6 km diameter site (about 28 km2, calculated). ESA study: about 50 km2 per 1.44 GW. 1980 US design: 10 x 13 km.¹²⁹	A beam from 36,000 km spreads to kilometres wide; a large antenna catches most of it while keeping intensity low.

Labour

Phase	How much	Skills	Why it is needed
Whole programme (development to operation)	About 143,000 job-years supported by a UK-based 2 GW system¹³	Space systems engineering, photovoltaics, microwave electronics, robotic assembly	Satellites must be mass-produced and robotically assembled in orbit, over 7.4 to 12.6 years per NASA system.
Operation	About 100 direct staff on average, just over 2,300 job-years³	Satellite operations, grid integration, rectenna maintenance	Systems run largely autonomously; staff manage beam pointing and maintenance.
Decommissioning	No published jobs data; NASA schedules disposal from 2060 to 2085¹	In-orbit servicing and debris removal	Large structures must be moved to disposal orbits to avoid debris.

Sources

Space-Based Solar Power (Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy) NASA, 2024
Space-Based Solar Power: final report (cost-benefit study for ESA SOLARIS) Frazer-Nash Consultancy, 2022
Space Based Solar Power as a Contributor to Net Zero, Phase 2: Economic Feasibility Frazer-Nash Consultancy for UK BEIS, 2021
Environmental Assessment for the Satellite Power System: Microwave Health and Ecological Effects (DOE/ER/10035-2) US Department of Energy / NASA NTRS, 1980