[Laifierr]

Japan has serious plans to send a solar-panel-equipped satellite into space that could wirelessly beam a gigawatt-strong stream of power down to earth and power nearly 300,000 homes.

The satellite will have a surface area of four square kilometers, and transmit power via microwave to a base station on Earth. Putting solar panels in space bypasses many of the difficulties of installing them on Earth: in orbit, there are no cloudy days, very few zoning laws, and the cold ambient temperature is ideal.

A small test model is scheduled for launch in 2015. To iron out all the kinks and get a fully functional system set up is estimated to take three decades. A major kink, presumably, is coping with the possible dangers when a 1-gigawatt microwave beam aimed at a small spot on Earth misses its target.

The $21 billion project just received major backing from Mitsubishi and designer IHI (in addition to research teams from 14 other countries).

Taken from here



Why does all the cool stuff happen in Japan?

[Kurisu]

Wow, that's actually amazing. I'll be checking back on this news in 30 years time to see if there have been any developments :D

I wonder if this method of power will be used in other countries eventually? Of course this needs to pass the tests involved, but it would be great if everyone was able to take advantage of that energy.

[Laifierr]

Well, it says that 14 other countries invested in this project, so it seems that 14 other countries are interested in utilizing this if it is successful. This could become a major technological advancement, especially for areas that are highly populated. One of those stations could power the city I live in and all the surrounding towns. Pretty amazing. ^^

[Rowan]

Wow, that is a great idea. I read recently that they have started to commercialize wireless energy transfer. This is wireless energy transfer on a much larger scale plus the huge solar panel. This could revolutionize the solar industry.

Thanks for posting this Laifierr, extremely interesting. I'll have to keep an eye on this!

[Momotaru]

That does sound extremely cool..

but fast forward to a future where the outer atmosphere of earth is almost completely filled with solar farms. The Earth's crust rarely sees sunlight because it's blocked out by all the machinery, however, our dark cities are powered by these solar farms, so life continues.. There are even artificial sun domes that the wealthy can enjoy, while others seek to find the extremely uncommon and remote locations where true sunlight shines for just an hour or less. A group of passionate adventurers, born into this dark world, will travel to the ends of the Earth to find one of these legendary 'Sun Spots' and bask it it's warmth.

[Bewoulf]

LoL Momo!

That's pretty cool stuff.