– By 2050, energy demand in developing countries is expected to increase significantly – says Dr. Sanjay Vijendran, head of the SOLARIS program at ESA. – Combined with intense climate change, this means an urgent need to have renewable and reliable energy sources that can be used on various scales – emphasizes the doctor.
The European Space Agency wants to build a power plant in Earth orbit
As Ewelina Zambrzycka-Kościelnicka from the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences said on Polish Radio 24, the topic of orbital solar power plants has recently returned to ESA. The idea first appeared in the 1940s in a novel by Isaac Asimov. – He described an orbital station collecting solar energy and transmitting this energy using microwaves to Earth – says the expert, quoted by the Radio Information Agency. – Then this project was devised by scientists and the first serious scientific works on this subject appeared in 1968. It still seems like science fiction, we have been preparing for it for many, many years – says Ewelina Zambrzycka-Kościelnicka.
As part of the SOLARIS program, ESA is talking about placing power plants in orbit that will capture solar energy and use radio waves to transmit it to receivers on Earth specially created for this purpose.
– The physics behind this is already being used in telecommunications, emphasizes Dr. Sanjay Vijendran. – Satellites transmit small doses of energy in the form of radio waves from orbit to ground receiving stations. – The difference between communication and solar power plants in space is that much more energy must be transmitted. This creates many technological challenges – adds the expert.
Orbital solar power plant. How would it work?
The cells of an orbital solar power plant would stretch for hundreds of meters, if not kilometers. Moreover, they would require not only assembly in space, but also maintenance and defense against meteorites. Experts emphasize, however, that there are no clouds or other atmospheric phenomena in space that would block the path of sunlight, and such devices can be relatively easily adapted to the scale of needs. However, another approach is also being taken into account. It would be based on the use of large mirrors which, placed in orbit, would also illuminate power plants on Earth, which would further increase electricity production.
As Ewelina Zambrzycka-Kościelnicka emphasized on Polskie Radio 24, it would be necessary to test such solutions on a smaller scale. PAP reports that ESA has already started cooperation with British companies to work on devices that would help build and maintain space power plants. He also intends to invite research centers to cooperate.
Source: Gazeta
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