Sky the limit

There have been some vague ideas floating around, about solar space stations in space. The Japanese space agency has gone a step ahead and placed it on their mission statement for 2030!

Under the plan, known as the Space Solar Power System (SSPS), floating photovoltaic dishes several square miles across would hover in geostationary orbit outside the Earth’s atmosphere to collect solar energy and beam it down using lasers and microwave.

To prove seriousness of intent, the Japanese government has also chosen a consortium of companies and scientists charged with making the multi-billion-dollar dream of unlimited clean energy a reality in as little as 20 years. The team, called the Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer (USEF), also includes Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Fujitsu and Sharp.

Giant solar cells would harvest solar energy, which is at least five times stronger in space than on Earth, and beam it down to terra firma through clusters of lasers or microwaves.

The consortium are hoping to create a one gigawatt system, equivalent to a medium-sized nuclear power plant, that would produce electricity at eight yen (nine cents) per kilowatt-hour, six times cheaper than the current cost in the country.

Will the lasers or microwaves roast birds and insects or even aircraft? JAXA maintains that the transmission technology would be safe. Time will tell.

Meanwhile who will apportion the atmosphere space between nations which will all want chunks of the abundant energy? Is it ‘asking for the sky’ when seeking an international pact on the usage of space? Especially when a pact on ground is fast disintegrating?