China's reusable rockets pave the way for space-based solar power

[Alfonso Maruccia]

Something to look forward to: China accounts for nearly a quarter of the world's energy consumption, with fossil fuels playing a significant role. However, the Asian giant is exploring a different approach to energy harvesting – capturing clean, essentially endless solar power where it is most abundant.

Chinese researchers are working on a new power station project that could gather and convert solar energy directly from space. The station would be 1 kilometer wide and capable of sending solar energy back to Earth in the form of microwave radiation. According to proponents of the project, the energy collected by this new orbiting installation in one year would be equivalent to the total amount of oil that can still be extracted from Earth.

One of the leading scientists behind the new energy plan is Long Lehao, a rocket expert and member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Lehao is currently working on Long March 9 (CZ-9), a Chinese super-heavy carrier rocket that was recently updated to be reusable and capable of lifting at least 136 metric tons off the planet's surface.

Beijing plans to use the CZ-9 and other rockets in the same series to send its taikonauts to the Moon. However, it would also be capable of transporting solar panels into a geostationary orbit around Earth. Energy collected in space would have 10 times the density of solar power reaching the surface, as clouds and the atmosphere can significantly affect the harvesting process.

Lehao said that the new project is as significant as moving the Three Gorges Dam to a geostationary orbit 36,000 km above Earth. The Three Gorges Dam, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, is the world's largest power station. The hydroelectric station became fully operational in 2012 and can generate around 100 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.

China is not the only country interested in building space-based solar power (SBSP) projects. US-based contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, the European Space Agency, and the Japanese space agency are investigating the feasibility of such projects, though they are still in the proof-of-concept phase.

Lehao's team hopes to solve some of the issues related to SBSP by leveraging its own reusable space rocket technology with the CZ-9 project. China has big ambitions for its space exploration program, as it plans to use Long March rockets to build an international research station on the Moon's surface by 2035.

Permalink to story:

China's reusable rockets pave the way for space-based solar power

 

[nitebird]

Should call it Golden-Eye

 

[MarkHughes]

"sending solar energy back to Earth in the form of microwave radiation"

If you could aim that at will, It could be one hell of a weapon.

 

[gamerk2]

To be fair, SimCity 2 predicted Microwave Power for the 2020s.

And yes, there was a disaster scenario for "Dish Beam Miss".

 

[Inthenstus]

Microwave radiation? The kind that causes cancer? This may be a “solar power station” but if they’re able to redirect this thing to aim at the White House.. or residential areas.. wouldn’t this allow them to attack us from space and give millions of people cancer?

 

[Kashim]

"According to proponents of the project, the energy collected by this new orbiting installation in one year would be equivalent to the total amount of oil that can still be extracted from Earth."

Boy, talk about wishful thinking! How many flux capacitors is it going to have? hahaha

 

[toooooot]

I feel like this is a project to learn things rather than getting cheap electricity.
It is very ambiguous. Such projects are often funded as research projects rather than
for profit. It would be very interesting to see what obstacles they face and how far they can get.

 

[RudyBob]

No one should think China is not testing military applications for this. That is their soul purpose. A new gap to contend with perhaps

 

[p51d007]

Yeah, a "peaceful" way to generate power. My a**! It will be a space based weapon, COUNT on it!

 

[ThomasTECH]

Actually solar panels do not harvest solar energy, the name is a total deception. Putting panels in space would likely break them, if it was done; they would have to bring a huge battery, imagine lets put this battery in space then charge it, then bring it back down and connect it to the grid. Such an expensive and inefficient process. This idea should be added to the best of Rube Goldburg systems.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Actually solar panels do not harvest solar energy, the name is a total deception. Putting panels in space would likely break them, if it was done; they would have to bring a huge battery, imagine lets put this battery in space then charge it, then bring it back down and connect it to the grid. Such an expensive and inefficient process. This idea should be added to the best of Rube Goldburg systems.

Yes all the world's leading engineers and scientists have failed to even consider this and are awaiting your phone call to help them out.

Solar panels exactly harvest solar energy, that's what they were designed to do: turn solar energy into electricity. It's one of several methods for HARVESTING solar energy. And why would they fail unless they are getting hit by space debris? There will be no battery at all, and no need for one. The main issue is cost given earth based solar is so ridiculously cheap already, it can be produced subsidy free for 2c/kWhr, far cheaper than any other energy source. Microwave transmission is highly inefficient though, you might realise 10% of the solar energy at earth surface, but it would still be a huge amount of energy. The main benefit is you get power 24/7.

 

[The Talking Tech]

Something good out of them.

 

[Che Cazzo]

Actually solar panels do not harvest solar energy, the name is a total deception. Putting panels in space would likely break them, if it was done; they would have to bring a huge battery, imagine lets put this battery in space then charge it, then bring it back down and connect it to the grid. Such an expensive and inefficient process. This idea should be added to the best of Rube Goldburg systems.

Indeed, my smart friend. Those billions of solar panels all over the globe are just for landscaping and decoration purposes. Not a single house is getting energy from them. Right??

Do people on this technical forum (where allegedly smart people post stuff) read their posts before hitting "Post Reply" and embarrassing themselves thoroughly???

Amazing!

 

[BogdanR]

"sending solar energy back to Earth in the form of microwave radiation"

If you could aim that at will, It could be one hell of a weapon.

Or cook eggs really, really quickly! In a few nanoseconds.

 

[GeforcerFX]

Would be far cheaper and simpler to keep adding panels to the giant empty desert that takes up a bunch of China's land as well as the giant rooftops of factories and warehouses all over the country.

This is nothing more than a research project no different than the rockwell star raker concept from the 20th century. It keeps the engineers occupied and problem solving.

 

[gamerk2]

Actually solar panels do not harvest solar energy, the name is a total deception. Putting panels in space would likely break them, if it was done; they would have to bring a huge battery, imagine lets put this battery in space then charge it, then bring it back down and connect it to the grid. Such an expensive and inefficient process. This idea should be added to the best of Rube Goldburg systems.

Huh? Solar Panels have been used successfully in space going back to the 1970s (Skylab).

Microwave radiation is transmitted to the Earth from space FAR more efficiently then light, so the idea of harvesting energy in space and then converting it to a form where more of it gets through the atmosphere is hardly a new concept; microwave power in particular has been looked at going back to the 80s.

Obvious benefit is that is immediately solves *all* of Solar energy's downsides: 24/7 power generation, no atmospheric loss of power generation, and so on. The obvious downside, as others have noted, is that you are effectively making a death beam that will kill anything that moves through it.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

No one should think China is not testing military applications for this. That is their soul purpose. A new gap to contend with perhaps

-Yeah and the US would compete unless it was for our political allergy to anything "clean" and "power".

"If it ain't belchin' smoke I ain't INTERESTED!"

 

[ThomasTECH]

Indeed, my smart friend. Those billions of solar panels all over the globe are just for landscaping and decoration purposes. Not a single house is getting energy from them. Right??

Do people on this technical forum (where allegedly smart people post stuff) read their posts before hitting "Post Reply" and embarrassing themselves thoroughly???

Amazing!

I am totally serious when I say panel technology does not need the sun to work, and is not converting the sunlight into a useable form of energy, sunlight is just starting a chemical reaction which produces low electricity, many trigger options available, using sunlight to start a chemical electrical process allows the marketing team to name it solar but the sunlight is not the only way to trigger the reaction. The point of the post is to say; so all the mini minds can understand, is that when you showcase a new technology it should be an improvement over the existing. Going into space with panel technology to produce 30,000 watts will cost 10000x more than producing that 30,000 watts off a turbine using combustibles: it is all for show. This article discusses using space panels to power Earth Surface systems. You kids need to catch up!

 

[TempleOrion]

I am totally serious when I say panel technology does not need the sun to work, and is not converting the sunlight into a useable form of energy, sunlight is just starting a chemical reaction which produces low electricity, many trigger options available, using sunlight to start a chemical electrical process allows the marketing team to name it solar but the sunlight is not the only way to trigger the reaction. The point of the post is to say; so all the mini minds can understand, is that when you showcase a new technology it should be an improvement over the existing. Going into space with panel technology to produce 30,000 watts will cost 10000x more than producing that 30,000 watts off a turbine using combustibles: it is all for show. This article discusses using space panels to power Earth Surface systems. You kids need to catch up!

 

[Che Cazzo]

I am totally serious when I say panel technology does not need the sun to work, and is not converting the sunlight into a useable form of energy, sunlight is just starting a chemical reaction which produces low electricity, many trigger options available, using sunlight to start a chemical electrical process allows the marketing team to name it solar but the sunlight is not the only way to trigger the reaction. The point of the post is to say; so all the mini minds can understand, is that when you showcase a new technology it should be an improvement over the existing. Going into space with panel technology to produce 30,000 watts will cost 10000x more than producing that 30,000 watts off a turbine using combustibles: it is all for show. This article discusses using space panels to power Earth Surface systems. You kids need to catch up!

Meanwhile, in 2025....LOL!!