Scientists in Japan have succeeded in transmitting energy wirelessly, in a key step that could one day make solar power generation in space a possibility, an official said Thursday. It’s a game-changing achievement for electricity generation that could one day allow us to place huge solar sheets in space and beam the energy back to Earth. The researchers from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced last week that they had used microwaves to deliver 1.8 kilowatts of power through the air to a receiver 55 meters (170 feet) away at pinpoint accuracy. It is to not that the 1.8 kilowatts may just be enough to power a kettle but more important fact is that wireless energy transfer can be achieved. The team of scientists have been working on devising Space Solar Power Systems for years, the spokesman said. The advantages of solar power generation are huge. The scientists hope to place the huge solar sheets in space which will give permanent energy to earthlings regardless of weather conditions on earth or the time of day. The idea, said the JAXA spokesman, would be for microwave-transmitting solar satellites—which would have sunlight-gathering panels and antennae—to be set up about 36,000 kilometres (22,300 miles) from the earth. While the Japanese scientists are hope to take this technology into space by 2040s, the implications this wireless energy transfer technology for earth are tremendous. We thought about such things only in science fiction but once this technology is commercially viable, it can serve electricity to the remotest place on earth. Three cheers to the JAXA scientists.
