China Will Have A Solar Power Plant 36,000 Km In Space For Limitless Energy Supply By 2030

Humans use a lot of energy and, despite burning coal and generating nuclear and hydro power, scientists have worried whether we're heading for an energy crisis.

China wants to help fix that problem by building solar panels where they're most effective...in space.

You see, harnessing solar power on Earth has a lot of obstacles. Cloud cover, smog and the natural tilt of the Earth can hinder the process throughout the year, and we've still not been able to mass produce technology that can harness the Sun at an efficient rate.

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According to China, one way to resolve that issue is by putting solar panels into space, where they will be unhindered by atmospheric factors. And they plan to be the first to do that, recently announcing massive plans to build an interstellar power station 36,000 km above the Earth's surface.

They plan to build and launch small solar power stations into the stratosphere between 2021 and 2025. They'll then upgrade them to a megawatt-level station in 2030 and gigawatt-level before 2050. Without clouds or the nighttime lack of sunlight to interfere, these could potentially become a continuous supply of clean energy.

The China Academy of Space Technology Corporation claims such setup could "reliably supply energy 99 per cent of the time, at six-times the intensity" of solar power plants on Earth. Their stations will in fact convert the solar energy into electricity up in space, and then beam it back to an Earth-bound grid using a microwave or laser.

Also Read: World's Oldest Nobel Prize Winner, 96-Year-Old Scientist Will Make Electricity Cheap For All

NASA

Of course, it's not as easy as it sounds. For one thing, even the smallest solar power station would weigh about 1000 tons, so launching it into orbit will require an awesome amount of power from a rocket. As such, Chinese researchers are also considering the possibility of instead launching robots and materials into space, where the station can then be 3D printed and assembled.

They've also set themselves a very short timeline to do this. But perhaps, in about 50 years, China will actually be able to make this futuristic dream a reality.