Capturing Sun Rays in Space to Energize Japan

Capturing Sun Rays in Space to Energize Japan

Japan’ Space Agency is dead serious to collect solar power in space and zap it down to Earth, using LASER beams or microwaves by 2030m Japan’s boldest plan to date is the Space Solar Power System (SSPM),in which arrays of photovoltaic dishes of several square kilometer in size would hover in geostationary orbit outside Earth’s atmosphere.

‘’Since solar power is clean and exhaustible energy source, we believe this system will help to solve the problems of energy shortage and global warming”, researchers wrote in a report.

The solar cells would capture the solar energy, which is at least five times stronger in space than our earth, and beam it down to the ground through clusters of LASERs or microwaves. These would be collected by gigantic parabolic antennae, likely to be located in restricted areas or on dam reservoirs. The researchers are targeting a one gigawatt system, equivalent to a medium sized atomic power plant, that would produce electricity, six times cheaper than its current cost.

The projects roadmap outlined several steps that would need to be taken before a full-blown launch in 2030. A satellite designed to test the transmission by microwave will be put into orbit. The next step, expected around 2020, would be to launch and test a large flexible photovoltaic structure with 10 megawatt power capacity to be followed by a 250 megawatt prototype. The final aim is to produce electricity cheap enough to compete with other energy sources.

LASER beams shooting down from the sky, may roast birds or slice up aircraft in mid-air. These are the demerits. The Japanese government has picked a group of firms and a team of researchers tasked with the turning of ambitious, multi-Billion-dollar dream of unlimited clean energy into reality in coming decades.