NASA wants to collect solar energy from space

Last year, the US Energy Information Administration estimated that world energy consumption would increase by about 50% between 2012 and 2040. For more than five years, NASA researchers and the Pentagon have thought of ways to combat this problem and have had some possible consequences.

The Power of the Sun

Space-based solar power has made a slow start, but technology is likely to make a breakthrough in the next few decades. There was a serious limitation of solar power as renewable energy; Only when the sun was shining. This has limited the ability of solar panels to be used in more sunny, drier areas (such as California and Arizona) where they can be used effectively. And even on cloudless days, the atmosphere was absorbing some of the energy emitted by the Sun and reducing the effectiveness of solar energy. And let's not forget that, even under the best of circumstances, the solar panels of the world are separated from the Sun until the midnight of the day, ie the night time.

More than five years ago, experts from NASA and the Pentagon thought there were several ways for solar panels to meet the challenges listed above, and eventually there were some viable conclusions. Many proposals were made for solar panels to work outside the atmosphere, and this was a reality and many of them were based on a spacecraft equipped with mirrors and reflecting the sunlight into a power conversion vehicle. The collected energy can be sent to Earth with a laser or microwave emitter. There are ways to increase or even reduce the energy of the waves to protect the planes or birds that might be on the way to the beam.

The energy coming from these spatial solar panels will not be affected by clouds, the atmosphere or the nightclub. In addition, since the solar energy is continuously absorbed, it is not necessary to store the energy for later use, which amounts to 50% of the stored energy.

Those who are near this energy strategy say they have all the basic knowledge to design and place the space solar panels, while competitors like Tesla's Elon Musk claim that the costs are very high. In 2012, Musk talks about this in a statement to Popular Mechanics.

Away from the ground

While climatic proofs continue to manifest themselves, energy production has higher costs than considering the lira and penny labels on a commodity. With a small carbon footprint, individuals who are concerned about the environment with an effective and renewable energy type and virtually no technology, such as Paul Jaffe, an aerospace engineer working in the US Marine Research Laboratory, find it unimportant.

In March, we passed the Jaffe plan at the Ministry's first Diplomacy, Development and Defense (D3) Innovation Summit. From the 500 presentations, Jaffe's got four out of seven. According to Jaffe's plan, the trial power station can deliver more than $ 150 billion in cost savings in 10 years over $ 10 billion. According to Jaffe, the investment will raise its cost in the long run.

Jaffe said in a statement to Salon: "In time everything will be more effective. It took decades for wind and solar power to compete with carbon-based alternatives. I see a similar potential here. In many ways, the method of collecting solar energy from a distance will be at the heart of people who decide what they want to give away than scientists and engineers. "

Of course, Jaffe is not the only person who is hopeful in this strategy. Japan and China have plans to orbit their spatial solar stations in the next 25-30 years. In the United States, Solaren Corp is collecting money for the design and testing phases of a private organization. As a result of his interest, he has signed a contract with PG & E from major electric companies.

None of these projects will be able to receive energy returns for the next decade or more, and the average energy user, but hopefully it will happen in the near future.

source: https://futurism.com/is-space-based-solar-power-the-answer-to-our-energy-problem-on-earth/