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Japanese
scientists have made a breakthrough step towards developing new energy source
for humans in the future by for the first time transmitting electric power
wirelessly to a pinpoint target using microwaves.
Japanese
scientists from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have succeeded
using microwaves to deliver 1.8 kilowatts of power through the air to a
pinpoint target 55 meters away, a spokesman for the agency said.
RT.com reports:
"This was the first time anyone has managed to
send a high output of nearly two kilowatts of electric power via microwaves to
a small target, using a delicate directivity control device,"
he said as quoted by AFP on Thursday.
Though
the energy was only enough to run an electric kettle and the distance was not
huge, this appears to be a giant leap in developing new energy sources. The
successful experiment could pave the way to collecting inexhaustible solar
energy in space and transmitting it to Earth, the researchers said.
The
International Space Station and other satellites have been able to collect
solar energy and use it for maintaining work. The main benefit of solar power
generation in space instead of Earth is the permanent availability of energy
regardless the weather conditions or the time of the day.
JAXA
has been working for years on the Space Solar Power Systems project (SSPS)
which envisages a space-based solar power plant that generates energy by
collecting sunlight in geostationary orbit.
“SSPS consists of a space-based power
generation/transmission facility that gathers sunlight, converts it into
microwaves or laser beams, and transmits those to the ground; and a power
receiving facility on the ground,” said lead researcher
Yasuyuki Fukumuro.
However,
science and technology have not yet reached the point where transmission of
solar energy to Earth would be possible. Currently the researchers have moved
from the study phase to the technology demonstration phase, Fukumuro said.
“There are many technological challenges to solve
before SSPS can be implemented,” he said. “When transmitting power by microwaves, a significant technological
challenge is how to control the direction, and transmit it with pinpoint
accuracy from a geostationary orbit to a receiving site on the ground.”
The
SSPS project sees transmitting microwaves from an altitude of 36,000 kilometers
to a flat surface 3 km in diameter, which is “like threading a needle,” he added.
It
could take decades before practical application of such technology, said the
JAXA spokesman as cited by AFP. He predicted that the SSPS project could be
launched by the 2040s.
The idea to supply power
from space for use on the Earth was introduced by Dr. Peter Glaser in 1968 and
he was granted a patent for it in 1973. The project was supported by NASA and
the US Department of Energy, but it was judged too costly and was shut down in
the 1980s.
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