Japan and JAXA, the country’s space administration, have been working for decades to make it possible to transmit solar energy from space. In 2015, JAXA scientists achieved a breakthrough by successfully beaming 1.8 kilowatts of power, enough energy to power an electric kettle, over 50 meters to a wireless receiver. Now, Japan is set to bring this technology one step closer to reality.
According to Nikkei, a Japanese public-private partnership will attempt to transmit solar energy from space as early as 2025. The project, led by Kyoto University professor Naoki Shinohara, who has been working on space-based solar energy since 2009, will deploy a series of small satellites in orbit. These satellites will then attempt to transmit the solar energy collected by the arrays to ground-based receiving stations hundreds of miles away.
The idea of using orbital solar panels and microwaves to transmit energy to Earth was first proposed in 1968. Since then, a few countries, including China and the US, have invested time and…
2023-05-28 16:43:38
Source from www.engadget.com rnrn