One of my favorite things in the world is when sci-fi stuff becomes real (save for Skynet; fiction can keep that). So it makes me really happy that there are real companies that are working on putting satellites into space to grab up solar energy. This has the obvious advantage over solar panels on the ground as these satellites would be grabbing up solar energy unfiltered by the atmosphere. Some people over at PowerSat, one of the companies working on making this technology a reality, estimate that each 10-ton satellite could grab around 17 megawatts a piece.
The scheme is to nab up energy in space, and then beam it back to earth via an EPA-approved spectrum (this makes me think of solar-fueled energy cannons, but that’s probably just me). If you guessed that this idea (and the picture I used for the article) are from the Japanese animated series Gundam 00, give yourself a pat on the back. In that show, the solar power system divided the world up into blocs based on proximity to where the energy was beamed to earth, which does raise a real question about how this technology would be distributed both nationally and internationally.
If you’re excited over this, you’re right to be. And if you’re not, how come? The sun is the most renewable source of energy in our solar system I can think of. Unless we have so many objects in space that we eclipse the earth, the only thing we’ll get from this is cheap, renewable energy.
(Original story via Ars Technica)
