Is Space Based Solar Power Viable?
Solar power is always shown as an energy source in sci-fi movies, but is space based solar power a viable solution to our energy problems? The answer might surprise you.
Many people automatically assume solar power will not work as a space energy platform. The reasons seem simple, but logical. How big, for instance, will the plant have to be in space? How will we maintain it? How will we get the power back down to the Earth? While these are all good questions, the answers have already been worked out.
Space is vast. This means we have a lot of room to put up solar energy systems. In fact, we've already done so repeatedly. Most satellites run on it. The space station certainly uses panels to keep the lights on. To generate a massive amount of solar energy, we would merely need to expand the system and make a small change. The idea would be to build mirror fields of 2.5 kilometers by 5 kilometers. These would then be focused on highly efficient solar panels. The condensed sunlight could produce enough energy to power 1,000 homes. That may sound like a big system, but space is infinite and the sun is "on" every second.
How about maintenance? Any system is going to need some maintenance. We've become fairly good at space walks and such. We already have the space station in orbit, so a home is established. Setting up a small shuttle to move out and about on the system to replace broken parts would represent some minor technical advances, but nothing we can't handle.
Okay, we're generating power. How do we get it back to Earth to use? Well, this has already been worked out as well. The answer is microwaves. Instead of converting the energy to alternate current electricity, it would be converted to microwaves. A beam of microwaves would then be shot down to a receiving plant roughly a square mile in size. There, the waves would be converted into useable energy.
So, why haven't we done this yet? How come we aren't meeting oddly attractive aliens yet? The answer is the same as it always is. The technology may exist, but the cost of getting it all up into space and working is simply staggering. There is no current solution, but the effort of companies to privatize the space exploration process is raising hopes that it will become viable at some point in the not to distant future.
