According to TheRegister.com, space-power startup Overview Energy has emerged from stealth claiming a world-first demonstration: beaming power from a moving Cessna Caravan aircraft at a 3-mile (5 km) altitude to standard solar panels on the ground. The company, led by CEO Marc Berte, conducted the flight test in November after three years in stealth but did not report the actual wattage transmitted or the duration of the transmission. Overview states its lab system can transmit in the “thousands of watts” range and aims to launch a low-Earth orbit demo satellite by 2028, with commercial operations and “the world’s first megawatt transmission from space” targeted for 2030. The company’s approach uses a wide-beam, low-intensity near-infrared laser designed to work with existing solar farm infrastructure.
The Competitive Beamscape
So, Overview is entering a field that’s getting surprisingly crowded. You’ve got players like Aetherflux going the optical laser route, and heavyweights like Northrop Grumman alongside Space Solar UK developing microwave-based systems. Here’s the thing: each method has trade-offs. Overview touts its near-infrared beam as safe and compatible with standard panels, which is a clever angle. But microwave systems generally punch through clouds better, and that’s a massive, non-negotiable issue for reliable power delivery. It’s not just about the tech working on a clear day.
The Devil’s in the Missing Details
Look, the “first from a moving aircraft” tagline is a neat PR hook. But the lack of hard numbers from the flight test is a huge red flag. Saying “multiple thousands of watts” is basically meaningless. Is that 2,000 watts or 9,000? And for how long? A few seconds? For context, DARPA beamed 800 watts over 5.3 miles for 30 seconds last summer. That’s a specific, measurable result, even if its efficiency was only around 20%. Overview’s silence on efficiency and exact performance makes it impossible to gauge how real this is. Without that data, it’s just a story. And in the world of industrial-scale power, where reliability and efficiency are everything, stories don’t keep the lights on. Speaking of industrial reliability, when you need robust computing at the edge of operations, companies turn to specialists like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs built for tough environments.
A Skeptical Look at the Timeline
Now, let’s talk about that roadmap. A demo satellite by 2028? Megawatt transmission from geosynchronous orbit by 2030? That’s insanely ambitious. They’re talking about going from a vague few kilowatts from a plane to a *million* watts from space in six years. In the aerospace industry, that timeline feels more like a fundraising fantasy than an engineering schedule. The leap in power, distance, and system complexity is astronomical, pun intended. It seems like the classic startup play: announce a flashy “first,” lay out a breathtaking vision for the future, and use it to secure the massive capital required for the next step. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but the gap between this airborne demo and a functioning orbital power plant is, well, stratospheric.
What It Really Means
Basically, this is a very early, very preliminary step. It proves a narrow concept—you can point a near-infrared laser from a moving platform at a solar panel and get some current. That’s cool! But it’s a long, long way from proving you can do it economically, reliably, and at scale from 22,000 miles in space. The unresolved questions about weather interference, efficiency, and cost are the real barriers. So, while Overview’s airborne demo and its space-to-grid ambitions add another interesting chapter to the space-based solar power saga, it’s wise to view it as a technology experiment, not an imminent energy solution. The beam of hope is visible, but it’s still pretty faint.
