Japan plans to construct a space solar power station

Japan, a country without natural resources but pointer in technology, aspires to build a space solar power station to send energy to Earth via lasers or microwaves.

Following a tender launched this summer (northern hemisphere), the Japanese state appointed this week to companies and organizations should develop this futuristic device that public authorities describe as essential.
The goal for 2030 is put into geostationary orbit (36,000 km from Earth) a device equipped with numerous photovoltaic panels that convert solar energy into electricity, with an annual capacity of five to 10 times higher than the panels used in land .
This electricity is in turn transformed energy flows or microwave beams transmitted to Earth, where they will be captured by a giant satellite dish that will convert into electricity.

"As it is a form of clean energy and endless, we believe this system can help solve the problems of insufficient energy and global warming due to greenhouse gases," write the researchers from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI ), the group diversified aerospace technical specialist.

This gigantic scientific and industrial challenge led by the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) is right out of science fiction, but Japan has been investigating since 1998. About 130 researchers, spread over a dozen working groups involved in the project, a number that should grow.
The Ministries of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Science and Technology (MEXT) on 1 September entrusted the project to HMI and the Research Institute of Space Device uninhabited, which brings together 17 companies, among electronics groups including Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Fujitsu and Sharp.

According to current plans to launch the device, after 2030, there will be several stages.First, "a demonstration satellite for the testing of microwave transmission should be put into low orbit by a Japanese rocket" in the coming years, said one of the JAXA project leaders, Tatsuhito Fujita.

Then they checked the possibility of a robotic assembly in space (in orbit together with the International Space Station, ISS) of the elements to build a flexible photovoltaic structure of a power of 10 megawatts (MW). This is scheduled for 2020.
Subsequently, in geostationary orbit will be a prototype of a power of 250 MW which will test the whole system and consider its financial viability.

The final mission is to produce electricity at a cost not prohibitive compared to other energies.
Researchers agree on the objective to develop a definitive system of 1,000 MW that would come at a cost of eight yen ($ 0.085, 0.060 euros) per kilowatt hour, will cost the same as Earth's solar production in 2030 and approximately six times less than at present.

But even if rates are attractive, we must reassure the public. According to a study conducted at JAXA in 2004 a thousand people, security was the prime cause of concern and words such as laser or microwave scary.