Sonntag, 1. Juni 2014

CAJ 9 - Solar Power Satellite


I have already written quite a lot about solar energy and the different new possibilities and materials. In May the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced that their goal was to build a solar power satellite that would generate as much energy as an ordinary nuclear power station does. This solar power station would then orbit the earth and would collect solar energy 24 hours a day because of two huge mirrors to get the sun at every angle. They say that this could be achieved within 25 years. While there are clearly some issues still to be addressed, they have managed to solve the main problems like wireless power transmission over such a long distance. The current solution to this specific issue are microwaves because they do not get blocked by the atmosphere and because the power conversion into electric energy from microwaves is already very efficient. For Japan this is a logical step because the country has no fossil fuels to exploit, space for renewable energy is scarce and because of the accident of Fukushima nuclear energy does not seem to be the right solution anymore. The plan is very ambitious and there still has to be more research done, for example in the field of possible materials, but if Japan succeeds in doing this, many science fiction movies would come to life.

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