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China intends to become the first country to implement a project to collect solar energy at an orbital power plant with its subsequent transfer to Earth. The installation will be placed in a geostationary orbit at an altitude of 35,786 kilometers, from where energy will be transferred to equipment located in the city of Chongqing in southwest China. This was stated by several scientists working on the project.
Li Ming, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Space Technology, said in an interview with Science and Technology Daily.
Already this year, it is planned to test experimental equipment for the transmission of energy over a distance. It was previously planned to launch a full-fledged megawatt-class power plant into orbit by 2030. Now Chinese scientists claim that they will be able to do this two years earlier. A gigawatt-class commercial station is planned to be placed in orbit by 2050. The Changzheng-9 heavy rocket will be used to deliver 10 thousand tons of equipment to near-Earth orbit, which will have to make more than a hundred launches. The total area of solar panels will be one square kilometer.
Chinese designers of space technology Lun Lehao and Qi Faren note that the implementation of the project will require the solution of many complex tasks. It is necessary to assess the economic effect of the construction and operation of the station, as well as to develop safe ways of transferring energy to Earth. Unlike its terrestrial counterparts, the space power plant is capable of generating energy in a constant mode, its operation does not depend on natural factors. Energy generation in space is not associated with environmental pollution, scientists talk about the advantages of the orbital installation.
Currently, similar projects are at different stages of implementation in several countries at once, including Russia, the USA, India and South Korea. European countries are also involved in conducting such studies. In China, the development of a project for the transfer of energy from space began in 2008. Now Chinese scientists have made significant progress in the implementation of wireless power transmission technology.
— says Wang Li, an employee of the Chinese Academy of Space Technologies.
The implementation of the ambitious project, among other things, should help China improve the environmental and energy situation in the country, as well as promote innovation and the creation of new industries.
