A successful ground test of a system designed to ultimately collect solar power from orbit and beam it back down to earth was announced in japan this week by mitsubishi heavy industries.
Japan solar panels in space.
The mega sized satellite would hover about 22 000 miles above earth.
Japan however pursued the idea and is currently the world leader of the space solar power systems ssps project.
It would be several miles long and weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 000 metric tons.
The 31 9 mw yatsubo solar power plant will be built near nasushiobara city in the tochigi prefecture and the 26 2 mw ikeda solar power plant will be developed at nasu gun also in tochigi.
Solar panels are ubiquitous especially in the area.
Solar energy is a great idea for japan considering what they re going through thanks to nuclear energy but trying to put solar in space for 1gw of energy is a huge waste of money.