A power plant in SPACE?

China needs clean energy and lots of it, and the country is thinking way out-of-the-box. Automologist, LILY, reports on its latest endeavour.

Percy Spencer discovered the microwave oven in 1945 quite by accident; subsequently, it became one of the greatest of modern inventions. What would he say if he knew that 70 years later, humans would look into using microwaves to transmit green energy from space? Today, we are not just required to think out-of-the-box to address the problem of depleting resources; we have to think out-of-the-globe as well!

All of us know that solar and wind power are currently two of the ‘greenest’ energy source. There are some limitation with these two methods - you need sunlight and wind, which are beyond our control. So, scientists from China are developing a massive solar energy station located in space! If they succeed, it would be the biggest man-made structure in space, with solar panels spanning six square kilometres and orbiting the earth at an altitude of 36,000 kilometre. It would look like one of the stars in the universe when seen from earth. The station will weigh 10,000 tons as compared to most rockets which weigh up to 100 tons. Needless to say, the expense will be enormous as well.

There would be nothing preventing the plant from harnessing energy as the panels are free from the limitation of cloud or rain; it also experiences neither night nor day!

I do not think that my generation will be able to witness this becoming reality as it needs much more research and development, and not forgetting another hurdle - the environmental groups and health concerns. How hazardous will it be to transfer the power to earth using microwaves or lasers? Every technological advancement comes with disadvantages, but it will be a matter of weighing the costs against the benefits.