Moscow. January 5th. INTERFAX - Specialists of the Russian Space Systems Holding (RKS, part of Roscosmos) have completed work on the project of a promising solar space power plant (SCES), which will provide electricity to hard-to-reach areas of the Earth, the press service of the RKS reported.
"The development will ensure the regular supply of alternative electricity to hard-to-reach - island, mountainous and northern - areas of the Earth, regardless of weather conditions and time of day, and will also allow energy to be transferred to other spacecraft - for "scheduled recharging" and in case of emergencies," the press service reported.
It is noted that the SCES complex consists of two segments. "The transmitting module is an unmanned spacecraft with an area of 70 square meters that accumulates solar energy and transmits it to Earth, and the receiving module is a system of ground-based mobile antennas (so-called rectenn) with batteries that receive solar energy from the spacecraft via a laser channel, convert it into electricity and distribute it to ground consumers," the RCS reported.
The ship can also serve as an orbital "charging station" - to transfer energy to third-party satellites for operational recharging.
According to Maria Barkova, a research engineer at the RKS Advanced Equipment Development Department, this development is an alternative to thermonuclear energy.
"In the atmosphere of our planet, the sun's rays disperse and almost completely lose their energy efficiency. However, in outer space, the efficiency of using solar energy exceeds tenfold. It can be converted into a laser beam and transmitted to Earth with minimal energy loss. That is, humanity can draw energy in unlimited quantities in space from a renewable source - the Sun," Barkova said, quoted by the RKS press service.
