An ambitious project to harness the power of the sun from space to supply power on Earth is being proposed by scientists.The European Space Agency (ESA) – which includes the UK – is discussing plans to create a solar farm in orbit at a two-day conference in Paris.
The SOLARIS project aims to collect sunlight over a wide area in space, convert it to microwave energy (similar to high frequency radio waves found in a microwave oven), then transmit it down to Earth.A large number of antennas on Earth would pick up the beams and the energy would be converted to electricity.The advantages of Space Based Solar Power (SBSP) are huge because the microwaves can penetrate cloud in Earth’s atmosphere and sunlight in space is also available constantly – not just during the day – and the light is more intense.
But the UK also has its own separate proposals. Funding worth £6m has…
Scientists discuss using satellites to ‘beam’ solar energy collected in space to Earth | Science & Tech News
