Beam Me Down, Scotty

🇬🇧 The UK government is reportedly considering a $21+ billion proposal to build a solar-powered space station that can beam energy down to Earth using microwaves or laser beams.

• Space-based solar power is one of the technologies featured in the UK’s Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, which aims to find solutions that allow the country to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
• While the idea of beaming solar energy down to Earth from space isn’t new, recent developments in key technical areas – like lightweight solar panels, wireless energy transmission and space robotics – have made the prospect more achievable.
• The UK’s initial test satellite, which could potentially be operational by 2040, would be able to deliver 2GW of power to the country’s power grid, which has an overall capacity of about 76GW.

✋ Yes, but… Assembling even just one space-based solar power station is an enormous task that would require many space shuttle launches.

• Although the system is designed to reduce the UK’s carbon footprint in the long run, it would actually increase net emissions in the short-term due to the environmental impact of so many launches into space.

🌎 Zoom out: A handful of other organizations are currently exploring the feasibility of space-based solar power stations, including the US military, the Chinese government, the European Space Agency and the Australian government.