Russia promotes the construction of a power station from the universe

According to Radio Voice of Russia on May 6, Russia is promoting a plan to set up a solar power station operating in orbit aimed at producing electricity from the universe provided to Earth.

According to the scientific community, in order to form the energy market, many solar power stations need to operate in orbit. Each such station is a giant solar cell that transfers energy to Earth in the form of a laser beam or microwave radiation beam.

Russian experts have invented the best method to reduce the cost of building such power stations and make them easier to launch into space.

Instead of a rigid plate weighing tens of thousands of tons as designed by Japan or the US, Russian scientists propose a solar cell design that consists of a thin and flexible film without a frame. The thickness of this film is 12 microns (1 micron equals 1 / 1,000mm).

Before being launched, the giant membrane was placed in a relatively small capsule, in space it turned into a plane and maintained its shape thanks to slow rotation.

Russian scientists have invented a unique technology to deploy such thin film structures and create another essential component for cosmic energy, modern laser fiber.

In addition, a product, which is a special pride of Russian scientists, is a waveguide optical fiber , which will be attached to the thin film surface. Currently the Russian industry produces up to 85% of the world's optical fiber volume.

Russian technology in this area is by far the best. Russian-made fiber optic cable with a diameter of 200 microns - thin as a razor, transmits 50KW of electricity.

Director of the Central Institute of Manufacturing Research belongs to the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos), Mr. Vitali Mennicop (Vitaly Melnikov) said that in the beginning, Russia's space station will be tested with a capacity of 100KW, then The station can raise capacity up to 1GW.

The experimental space station will be a satellite with a solar battery and a laser system, launched into a geostationary orbit.

It is expected that the Russian solar battery test version will be built no later than 2017, and will be priced equivalent to the cost of a thermal power plant.

In addition, scientists have to solve a series of difficult problems before the space plant operates efficiently, such as adjusting the station in accordance with the Sun direction and increasing the battery life in open space.

However, humans have taken the first step in the development of the cosmic electricity project, and Russia is expected to lead the world in this area.