A cool company from the UK, called Space Solar, is doing something that sounds like it’s straight out of a sci-fi movie. They’ve figured out a way to send solar energy from space down to Earth. And guess what? They just did a test where they lit up a sign without any wires, sending power through the air in all directions. That’s a first!
Martin Soltau, the brain behind Space Solar, says this is a big step for their plan to get solar power from space. They want to put a giant satellite way up in space, about 22,000 miles above us, where it can catch sunlight all the time and send energy back to us here on Earth.
Why space, you ask? Well, up there, solar panels can get a lot more sunlight without clouds or nighttime getting in the way. This means they could send power to us 24/7, no matter the weather.
Space Solar has some big dreams. They’re talking about setting up the first space solar farm within the next ten years. This farm could power a whole town with clean energy. But before that big dream, they’re planning to send up a smaller satellite in just three years to show how it can power a small village.
The cool part is, we don’t need any crazy new science or tech to make this happen. It’s all about using what we already know but on a bigger scale. The European Space Agency (ESA) even says that if we can send TV signals from space, we can send power too.
But here’s the deal: To catch all that energy, we’ll need a big solar farm in space and a huge receiver on Earth. Space Solar thinks putting the receiver near the sea could work well, especially near wind farms that are already hooked up to our power grid.
And don’t worry about getting all this stuff into space. With companies like SpaceX making space travel cheaper, sending up a bunch of satellites isn’t as crazy as it sounds.
Governments and space agencies in places like the UK, US, China, and Japan are all thinking about how to make this space solar idea a reality. The UK’s even helping fund Space Solar’s first satellite.
