Photo by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center on Flickr.com
The European Space Agency is considering steps to produce solar energy from space. If the plan is accepted at the conference today, the sun’s energy will be wirelessly sent to the earth and then to the buildings.
This week, the European Space Agency (ESA) will approve a three-year study to examine the viability and cost-effectiveness of large-scale solar systems in space. The ultimate goal, according to the information on the internet, is to have huge satellites in orbit, each of which can generate as much electricity as a power station. At its headquarters in Paris, the ESA’s governing council will discuss the proposal today.
As various organizations and other space agencies explore the idea, the Solaris initiative will be the first to lay the groundwork for a practical plan to develop a space-based renewable power generation system. Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s managing director, told BBC News he believes solar power from space can be of “enormous” help to address future energy shortages.
“We need to move to carbon-neutral economies and therefore change the way we generate energy, and especially reduce the fossil fuel portion of our power generation.” If you can do it from space, which we can’t because we’re not there yet, that would be absolutely great because it would solve a lot of problems.
The sun’s energy can be collected much more efficiently in space because there is neither night nor cloud cover. The idea has been around for over 50 years, but until now it has been very difficult and expensive to implement. With reusable rockets and other innovations developed by the private sector, lower launch costs have changed the rules of the game. There have also been advances in robotic structures in space and the development of technology to wirelessly beam electricity from space to Earth.
ESA is seeking funding from member countries for a research program called Solaris.
The scientist who pioneered the Solaris initiative, Dr. “The idea of space-based solar is no longer science fiction.” “The potential is there, and we really need to understand the technological path before we decide to continue building something in space,” said Sanjay Vijendran.
