JAPAN SURGES IN RACE FOR SPACE-BASED SUN

Japan eyes solar station in space
Karyn Poupee, November 7, 2009 (AFP)

"It may sound like a sci-fi vision, but Japan's space agency is dead serious: by 2030 it wants to collect solar power in space and zap it down to Earth, using laser beams or microwaves.

"The government has just picked a group of companies and a team of researchers tasked with turning the ambitious, multi-billion-dollar dream of unlimited clean energy into reality in coming decades…With few energy resources of its own and heavily reliant on oil imports, Japan has long been a leader in solar and other renewable energies…"

The U.S. has been working on space-based solar since the 1970s but the Japanese may get there first. (click to enlarge)

"But Japan's boldest plan to date is the Space Solar Power System (SSPS), in which arrays of photovoltaic dishes several square kilometres (square miles) in size would hover in geostationary orbit outside the Earth's atmosphere…[S]olar cells would capture the solar energy, which is at least five times stronger in space than on Earth, and beam it down to the ground through clusters of lasers or microwaves…[to] gigantic parabolic antennae, likely to be located in restricted areas at sea or on dam reservoirs…

"The researchers are targeting a one gigawatt system, equivalent to a medium-sized atomic power plant, that would produce electricity at eight yen (cents) per kilowatt-hour, six times cheaper than its current cost in Japan… Japan has been pursuing the project since 1998, with some 130 researchers studying it under Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) oversight…Last month Japan's Economy and Trade Ministry and the Science Ministry took another step toward making the project a reality, by selecting several Japanese high-tech giants [including Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Fujitsu and Sharp] as participants in [the Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer]…"

There is some unnecessary concern in the Japanese public about the safety of the concept. (click to enlarge)

"The project's roadmap outlined several steps that would need to be taken before a full-blown launch in 2030…Within several years [there will be a satellite to test the transmission by microwave put into low orbit with a Japanese rocket]…

"The next step, expected around 2020, would be to launch and test a large flexible photovoltaic structure with 10 megawatt power capacity, to be followed by a 250 megawatt prototype…This would help evaluate the project's financial viability…The final aim is to produce electricity cheap enough to compete with other alternative energy sources…JAXA says the transmission technology would be safe but concedes it would have to convince the public…"