Dall’analisi di Genevieve Donnellon-May, The Strategist: Space-based solar power, or SBSP, refers to orbital systems that collect and harvest solar energy using solar-powered satellites—enormous spacecraft with solar panels. Solar energy is converted into microwaves or lasers and then wirelessly transmitted via high-frequency radio waves to a fixed point on earth throughout the day. Once on the ground, a rectifying antenna, or rectenna, converts the electromagnetic energy into electricity and delivers it to the power grid for energy consumers. The main benefit of SBSP is its higher energy collection. Because it is unaffected by the weather or time of day, it could provide clean, reliable and efficient energy for satellites and people living in remote communities and in disaster-hit areas worldwide. The concept of collecting solar power in space isn’t new; however, in recent years, there’s been growing interest in developing SBSP partly due to pressure to meet national and international climate-related goals and achieve national space plans. While some countries—China, Japan, India, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States—and the European Union are in the race to develop SBSP first, the two leading countries in this competition are China and the US.
The race to develop space-based solar power is heating up | The Strategist (aspistrategist.org.au)
