2023-06-01 18:25:00
Japan hopes soon to be able to put into orbit satellites capable of transmitting the energy collected by their solar panels to the Earth. A first experiment should take place in 2025.
The country’s authorities and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have long been working on the idea of being able to harvest solar energy from space. According to Nikkei Asia, an experiment will be attempted from 2025, headed by a professor from Kyoto University, a specialist in solar energy in space.
The goal is to start deploying small satellites in orbit, at an altitude of 36,000 kilometers, intended to transmit to the Earth the solar energy collected via their panels. This is actually converted into microwaves sent to receiving stations on the ground and then transformed into electricity. The advantage of these microwaves is that they can easily pass through clouds and any turbulence.
The major interest of this technology is that it represents in principle an unlimited source of renewable energy since, in space, solar panels can collect energy at any time of the day, where on Earth it is is much more difficult when the weather is bad, for example.
However, the results in terms of production should not be spectacular, at least initially. It has indeed been calculated that to produce the equivalent in electricity of a nuclear reactor, it would be necessary to use an area of about 4 km2 solar panels, which would represent a colossal investment, estimated at 1000 billion yen, or approximately seven billion euros.
Note that the Chinese and the Americans are also working on this type of technology and that Japan hopes to gain the upper hand over these two nations in the management of solar energy from space.
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