japan-wants-power-300000-homes-wireless-power-space

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Booban

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Japan has serious plans to send a solar-panel-equipped satellite into space that could wirelessly beam a gigawatt-strong stream of power down to earth and power nearly 300,000 homes.

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2 ... ower-space

Just happened to have stumbled across this, excuse me if its only me that missed it. Didn't space com do any story on this?

I've been saying this is the kind of space investment we need but thought I was just too far out there and such ideas were too far fetched because NASA doesn't have such plans and instead building moon colonies is far more realistic and beneficial.

Apparently the Japanese prioritize differently, so while the US is dune buggying on the moon the Japanese are investing in their energy future.
 
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SpaceForAReason

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Looks interesting... A bit far off still. Wonder what that would do to air space restrictions...
 
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Booban

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The previously linked article was derived from this one: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... 529lsdk9HI


The trade ministry and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which are leading the project, plan to launch a small satellite fitted with solar panels in 2015, and test beaming the electricity from space through the ionosphere, the outermost layer of the earth’s atmosphere, according to the trade ministry document. The government hopes to have the solar station fully operational in the 2030s, it said.

In the U.S., the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the energy department have spent $80 million over three decades in sporadic efforts to study solar generation in space, according to a 2007 report by the U.S. National Security Space Office.

Year 2030 I don't think is far off. The point is, this isn't sci-fi but there's no investment in it. Before running of to Mars and the moon, real, tangible technologies should be pursued.

People talk of the moon being the first step to Mars. If so, then this should be the first step to the moon. The solar satellite could just as well be a manned solar energy station. Manned to do repairs and maintenance and expansions. With manned space stations you get space ships, with space ships, you get space exploration, to the moon or wherever.
 
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EarthlingX

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This is another similar thing :
Solaren Corp to supply California with space-based solar power
and
PG&E makes deal for space solar power
updated 10:41 p.m. ET April 13, 2009
California's biggest energy utility announced a deal Monday to purchase 200 megawatts of electricity from a startup company that plans to beam the power down to Earth from outer space, beginning in 2016.
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He said the agreement called for 800 gigawatt-hours of electricity to be provided during the first year of operation, and 1,700 gigawatt-hours for subsequent years. The larger figure is roughly equal to the annual consumption of 250,000 average homes.

solar2.300w.jpg


Some of the tech behind it:
Stretched Lens Array SquareRigger (SLASR): A New Space Array for High-Power Missions

more here : Help Me Start a Martian Business
 
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