Space solar 2

 (cont'd from yesterday's post)

Space-based solar power (SBSP) could help supply earth with renewable energy. Captured solar radiation could travel a laser or microwave beam down to the planet's surface where it would be transformed into electricity and relayed to an electrical grid.

Potential is there. The technology to make this idea feasible is not yet. According to a policy analyst speaking last fall, SBSP "is probably a couple of generations away from being hooked into the terrestrial power grid."

But innovators and scientists are working toward solutions. In fact, China plans to build a space-based power station by 2035.

  

The analyst urged the United States to accelerate the effort, to "think about the kind of benefits that will fall to those who master the technology of wireless transmission of huge amounts of power over long distances."

from Interesting Engineering