Solution to the climate crisis? Earth takes a step closer to sustainable space-based solar power

Forget solar panels on roofs, powerplants and wind turbines blighting our landscape – space-based solar power could be closer to reality than we once thought.Solar Damper

Testing and inspection has been completed on a new tower that could pave the way to space-based solar power in China, according to researchers at Xidian University.Solar project DC motorv

The announcement means we’re a step closer to a concept long considered a potential key to solving the energy and climate crisis facing the earth.

Scientists ran a successful test on June 5 which was — according to a statement published by the university — the "world’s first full-link and full-system solar power plant".Solar tracker actuator

The 246 ft (75 m) tall structure made of steel can be found on Xidian University’s southern campuses, equipped with five different systems designed to foster the eventual development of space-based solar power.

In recent years, other nations have also set their sights on space-based solar power. In March, the UK government reportedly considered a £16 billion (€18.72 billion) proposal to build a solar power station in space.

In the US, a $100 million (€95.93 million) partnership was made to provide advanced technology for their own space-based solar power system.

Japan has also made the field part of its future space exploration vision.Solar Tracking Controller

Science fiction or reality?

The hope of this venture is that, in theory, the satellites could continuously collect photons from the sun — converting the energy to photovoltaic cells, and wirelessly beam that electricity as microwaves back to receivers on Earth.NMRV Series Worm Gear Reducer

Although this may seem like a venture straight out of a science fiction novel, the concept of space solar power isn’t new, Dr Jovana Radulovic, Head of the Mechanical and Design Engineering School at the University of Portsmouth, noted.

"Engineers and scientists in the last century have been coming up with these ideas," she told Euronews Next.Planetary gear motor

The theory made its first appearance as far back as the 1960s, proposed by Peter Glaser, a scientist and aerospace engineer who was also president of the Power from Space Consultants.