It sounds like the stuff of science fiction – but Europe could one day be powered by giant floating solar panels circling the planet.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has revealed a plan to harvest the solar energy into space and beam it back to Earth.
The technology is still in the preliminary testing phase – but the ultimate goal is to build a 2km long solar space farm, producing just as much. strength as a nuclear power plant.
The field orbits 36,000 km above the Earth.
“[Such a project] will ensure that Europe becomes a key player – and potentially a leader – in the international race towards scalable clean energy solutions for mitigating climate change,” ESA said in a statement.
How does space farm technology work?
Power of the sun is one of the best sources of clean energy, but currently restricted by some limitations. The panels can only harness the power of the sun, and even then, most of the sunlight is absorbed by the atmosphere on its way to the earth.
In Space, the rays of the sun about ten times worse than earth.
ESA is collaborating with Airbus – a European multinational aerospace corporation – to develop ‘wireless power transmission’ to obtain this 24-hour source of voltaic and let us know.
The technology is based on the transmission used by TV and communication satellites every day, explained Airbus engineer Nicolas Schneider.
“We’re not that far from a 4G antenna, except we don’t want to shine in all directions, we want to be as precise as a laser, really,” he said.
“It’s a wave that can be focused on this receiving antenna that will change it waves of electricity.”
The problem is scale. The satellite must be very large, so it is difficult to launch and build.
But with technology developed rapidly, the project will become a reality in the coming decades. ESA will discuss the Solaris project at its meeting in November.
The satellite will be fixed by robots while in orbit, explained Gwenaëlle Aridon, hHead of the Robotics Laboratory of Airbus Defense and Space.
“The robot can reach and fix a panel, remove it and put a new one in when needed,” he said.
“There is [robot] Manipulators that reboot weapons effectively reduce the cost of operations.
This may be a logistical challenge – but as energy crises evolve and unfold, it could be a game changer.
A solar power satellite of the planned scale can generate about two gigawatts of power, equivalent to a conventional one. nuclear power station or six million solar panels on earth.
The resulting energy could power more than a million homes.