Japan studied building solar power station in the universe

Japanese scientists are preparing to study the production of solar power by satellites in the universe and transmit electricity generated to the Earth by microwave technology.

Japanese scientists are studying how to produce solar electricity from space
via satellites.(Photo: Alamy)

The Japan Space Exploration Agency (JAXA), Mitsubishi Electronics and Kyoto University are collaborating on a project to research the production of solar power by using satellites in space.

The ' factories ' that produce solar power will be built on Earth's orbit. The generated electric energy will be converted into microwave form to transmit to Earth via satellites. A ground-based system will convert these wave signals into electricity for living.

According to the Telegraph newspaper, the study will be conducted at a space simulation center at Japan's Kyoto University. If successful, these experiments will open a breakthrough in building solar power stations in space.

New electricity production technology has been evaluated to be 10 times more efficient than current solar power plants. The reason is, the solar power stations are not affected by the cloud factor and at night.

According to this ambitious research roadmap, Japanese scientists hope to launch an experimental solar power production system into the earliest space in 2016.

Earlier, Mitsubishi Electronics also launched a project called Solarbird, which put 218 giant reflecting mirrors on Earth's orbit. These mirrors provide sunlight for solar power plants during night time. However, scientists are concerned that this project may have a negative impact on the ecosystem .