Japan's Moonshot? $21 Billion Invested in Space-Based Solar Power
source: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/09/japan-space-based-solar-power-satellite-21-billions....
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Moving Towards Space-Based Solar Power
Solar power is very green, and the great big fusion reactor in the sky generates more than enough energy for all of humanity's needs. But if you put solar panels on the surface of the Earth, you have to deal with two big problems: 1) Solar energy bounces off the atmosphere, especially on cloudy days (see pic below), and 2) you don't get power at night. Engineers have had a theoretical solution for both of these problems for a few decades: Put your solar collectors in geostationary orbit (22,300 miles/35,700 km) where they'll get direct sunlight 24/7, and beam down the energy using microwaves. Progress has been slow so far, but Japan is shaking things up.
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada
Solar power is very green, and the great big fusion reactor in the sky generates more than enough energy for all of humanity's needs. But if you put solar panels on the surface of the Earth, you have to deal with two big problems: 1) Solar energy bounces off the atmosphere, especially on cloudy days (see pic below), and 2) you don't get power at night. Engineers have had a theoretical solution for both of these problems for a few decades: Put your solar collectors in geostationary orbit (22,300 miles/35,700 km) where they'll get direct sunlight 24/7, and beam down the energy using microwaves. Progress has been slow so far, but Japan is shaking things up.
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada
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