Japan, along with its space administration JAXA, has already spent a long time trying to develop a way to beam solar energy from space. It was noted that almost a decade ago, the country made progress by being able to beam down 1.8 kilowatts of energy.
Japan's Future Plans for Enhanced Technology
According to the story by Engadget, in 2015, JAXA scientists could beam down 1.8 kilowatts of power. Although reportedly not as high as initially planned for the project, this energy was enough to power up an electric kettle.
This was about over 50 meters from a wireless receiver, making lighting up the electric kettle more notable. Now, the country plans to take the technology a step further by doubling down.
Public-Private Partnership Aims to Beam Solar Energy from Space
As reported by Nikkei, public-private partnerships will work together to try to beam solar energy directly from space. They are working together with a timeline of 2025 for this project. A SlashDot post shared Engadget's news, opening it up for discussion.
Naoki Shinohara will be leading the project and is a known Kyoto University professor with involvement in space pursuits. One of his most notable involvements includes his work from 2009 which focused on space-based solar energy.
The Evolution of the Vision for Space-Based Energy Transmission
Now, Shinohara's project would be trying to deploy multiple small satellites into orbit. Those particular satellites will then be used to beam solar energy with their arrays to be collected on the ground.
Ths stations responsible for collecting the energy would be ground-based and located hundreds of miles away. The orbital solar panels and microwaves used to send energy directly to Earth were proposed around half a century ago.
The Future of Orbital Solar Panels and Microwaves
The proposal to use orbital solar panels and microwaves for sending energy to Earth was launched in 1968, and since then, more countries have been pursuing the idea. These countries include China and the US outside of Japan.
The technology has gained widespread appeal since if it becomes a reality, it would mean that those able to harness solar beams would then gain access to unlimited energy. However, as per Endgadget, even if the tech succeeds, the report says it would still be closer to fiction than fact.
Balancing Technological Advancement and Accessibility for Wider Adoption
This would be because to create just 1 gigawatt of power, it would already cost a whopping $7 billion, which is far from the cost of other energy resources. This amount would only be able to produce close to as much as a nuclear reactor would be able to produce.
The battle of the project is not just to make it possible to harness energy coming from solar sources, but to also make it efficient enough to use for the wider public.
