Startup wil zonnepanelen in de ruimte
CALIFORNISCH BEDRIJF PROBEERT OUD IDEE VAN DE GROND TE KRIJGEN
A startup is trying to generate power in space for use on Earth--an old idea that's never been tried, mostly because it's too expensive, but also because people are concerned that it will fry birds in flight.
One of the biggest long-term challenges with solar power is that it doesn't work well when it's cloudy, and it stops working altogether at night. Most proposed solutions have to do with storing energy from the sun, but a more exotic way around this problem, first proposed in the late 1960s, involves putting the solar panels in space where the sun is always shining.
The power would then be beamed to Earth in the form of some sort of electromagnetic waves, likely lasers or microwaves, to a ground-based station that could then deliver power to customers over existing transmission lines. The government has spent $80 million over decades to investigate this approach, but so far no pilot plants have been built.
One of the biggest long-term challenges with solar power is that it doesn't work well when it's cloudy, and it stops working altogether at night. Most proposed solutions have to do with storing energy from the sun, but a more exotic way around this problem, first proposed in the late 1960s, involves putting the solar panels in space where the sun is always shining.
The power would then be beamed to Earth in the form of some sort of electromagnetic waves, likely lasers or microwaves, to a ground-based station that could then deliver power to customers over existing transmission lines. The government has spent $80 million over decades to investigate this approach, but so far no pilot plants have been built.