Will We Eventually Be Directly Using Solar Energy From Space?
Japan aspires to soon be able to launch satellites that can send solar energy collected from their panels to Earth. In 2025, the first experiment is expected. The government of the nation and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have been collaborating on this concept for a long time. Nikkei Asia reports that an experiment to test the viability of the concept will be conducted in 2025 under the direction of a Kyoto University professor who specializes in solar energy in space.
The objective is to start putting tiny satellites into orbit at a height of 36,000 km. The solar panels on these spacecraft would be used to harvest solar energy, which would subsequently be sent as microwaves to Earth. This energy would be sent to ground-based receiving stations where it would be converted into electricity. Microwave radiation has the benefit of being able to readily flow through clouds.
Since solar panels in space can gather energy at any time of day, although on Earth it is considerably more challenging, for example depending on the weather, it would theoretically offer a limitless supply of renewable energy.
The production output results, however, are not expected to be exceptional at first. According to calculations, solar panels would need to cover a surface area of around 4 sq km in order to provide the same amount of power as a nuclear reactor. This would need a massive expenditure of more than a trillion yen, or about 7.1 billion US dollars.
It should be emphasized that China and the US are also working on this kind of technology, and Japan is expecting to lead the way in using solar energy from space.
