JAXA Space Solar Power System, One Giga Watt laser beam microwave
#1
11-08-2009, 06:29 PM
JAXA SSPS Space Solar Power System, One Giga Watt laser beam microwave
Nov 6, 2009
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
JAXA Space Solar Power System, One Giga Watt laser beam microwave in the making.
Japan's space agency wants to collect solar power in space and zap it down to Earth, using laser beams or microwaves.
The government has picked a team of researchers tasked with turning the ambitious, multi-billion-dollar dream of unlimited clean energy into reality starting in 2030.
Japan's plan to date is the Space Solar Power System (SSPS), in which arrays of photovoltaic dishes several square miles in size would hover in geostationary orbit.
"Since solar power is a clean and inexhaustible energy source, we believe that this system will be able to help solve the problems of energy shortage and global warming," researchers at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, one of the project participants, wrote in a report. "The sun's rays abound in space."
The solar cells would capture the solar energy, which is five times stronger in space than on Earth, and beam it down to the ground through by lasers or microwaves.
These would be collected by gigantic parabolic antennae, likely to be located in restricted areas at sea or on dam reservoirs, said Tadashige Takiya, a spokesman at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
The researchers are targeting a 1 GW system, equivalent to a medium-sized atomic power plant, that would produce electricity at eight yen (cents) per kilowatt-hour, 1/6 the current cost of electricity in Japan.
The SSPS project seeks to put a prototype space-based power system in orbit — 22,400 mi (36,000 km) above the equator, with the goal of harnessing the sun's energy to produce laser beams that would generate electricity or hydrogen on Earth through the intermediary of a terrestrial power station.
The lasers using plates built from a ceramic material containing chromium, which can absorb sunlight, and neodymium, which converts it into laser beams outperformed earlier technologies, demonstrating a solar-to-laser energy conversion efficiency of 42%.
Japan has been pursuing the project since 1998, with researchers studying it under JAXA's oversight.
Last month Japan's Economy and Trade Ministry and the Science Ministry selected several Japanese high-tech giants as participants in the project. The consortium, named the Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer, includes Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Fujitsu and Sharp.
The project's outlined steps that be taken before a full-blown launch in 2030.
"A satellite designed to test the transmission by microwave should be put into low orbit with a Japanese rocket," said Tatsuhito Fujita, one of the JAXA researchers heading the project.
The next step, around 2020, would be to launch and test a large flexible photovoltaic structure with 10 megawatt power capacity, followed by a 250 megawatt prototype, followed by the final 1,000 megawatt ( One Giga Watt) structure.
JAXA says the transmission technology is be safe but concedes it remains with the task of convincing the public, which harbors images of laser beams shooting down from the sky, roasting people on the ground, slicing up aircraft in mid-air, or worse.
According to a 2004 study by JAXA, the words 'laser' and 'microwave' causesd serious concerns among the 1,000 people polled.
.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
JAXA Space Solar Power System, One Giga Watt laser beam microwave in the making.
Japan's space agency wants to collect solar power in space and zap it down to Earth, using laser beams or microwaves.
The government has picked a team of researchers tasked with turning the ambitious, multi-billion-dollar dream of unlimited clean energy into reality starting in 2030.
Japan's plan to date is the Space Solar Power System (SSPS), in which arrays of photovoltaic dishes several square miles in size would hover in geostationary orbit.
"Since solar power is a clean and inexhaustible energy source, we believe that this system will be able to help solve the problems of energy shortage and global warming," researchers at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, one of the project participants, wrote in a report. "The sun's rays abound in space."
The solar cells would capture the solar energy, which is five times stronger in space than on Earth, and beam it down to the ground through by lasers or microwaves.
These would be collected by gigantic parabolic antennae, likely to be located in restricted areas at sea or on dam reservoirs, said Tadashige Takiya, a spokesman at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
The researchers are targeting a 1 GW system, equivalent to a medium-sized atomic power plant, that would produce electricity at eight yen (cents) per kilowatt-hour, 1/6 the current cost of electricity in Japan.
The SSPS project seeks to put a prototype space-based power system in orbit — 22,400 mi (36,000 km) above the equator, with the goal of harnessing the sun's energy to produce laser beams that would generate electricity or hydrogen on Earth through the intermediary of a terrestrial power station.
The lasers using plates built from a ceramic material containing chromium, which can absorb sunlight, and neodymium, which converts it into laser beams outperformed earlier technologies, demonstrating a solar-to-laser energy conversion efficiency of 42%.
Japan has been pursuing the project since 1998, with researchers studying it under JAXA's oversight.
Last month Japan's Economy and Trade Ministry and the Science Ministry selected several Japanese high-tech giants as participants in the project. The consortium, named the Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer, includes Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Fujitsu and Sharp.
The project's outlined steps that be taken before a full-blown launch in 2030.
"A satellite designed to test the transmission by microwave should be put into low orbit with a Japanese rocket," said Tatsuhito Fujita, one of the JAXA researchers heading the project.
The next step, around 2020, would be to launch and test a large flexible photovoltaic structure with 10 megawatt power capacity, followed by a 250 megawatt prototype, followed by the final 1,000 megawatt ( One Giga Watt) structure.
JAXA says the transmission technology is be safe but concedes it remains with the task of convincing the public, which harbors images of laser beams shooting down from the sky, roasting people on the ground, slicing up aircraft in mid-air, or worse.
According to a 2004 study by JAXA, the words 'laser' and 'microwave' causesd serious concerns among the 1,000 people polled.
.
Last edited by stomper; 11-08-2009 at 06:39 PM.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
stomper
Hobby Corner
3
10-09-2014 12:47 AM
