What is a satellite solar power generation system? Is a space power station science fiction or reality?

The satellite solar power generation system, referred to as the "space power station", is a name full of technology that can immediately lead us into the world of science fiction, but this is not science fiction, but reality. What is even more surprising is that as early as 1968, the satellite solar power generation system had been successfully patented, and the owner of this patent was aerospace engineer Peter Glaser.

Peter Glaser is the patent owner of the "space power station", but he was not the first person to propose this concept. The history of the space power station can be traced back to 1941. The first person to propose this concept was the famous science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. What exactly is a satellite solar power generation system? In fact, as the name suggests, it is a system that collects solar energy in space. To put it more simply, it is to set up solar panels in space. Isn't it enough to collect solar energy on the ground? Why move solar panels to space? This is because the amount of solar energy that can be collected on the ground is very limited.

The sun releases enormous amounts of energy every moment through hydrogen nuclear fusion. Based on the current rate of energy consumption by humans, the energy released by the sun in one second can be used by all of humanity for 250,000 years.

The energy released by the sun is so huge that physicist Freeman Dyson proposed the famous "Dyson Sphere" concept, which is to build an energy collection device around the sun to collect the sun's energy. At present, humans have regarded the Dyson Sphere as a symbol of the realization of the second cosmic civilization. For humans who have not yet reached the first cosmic civilization, the idea of ​​the Dyson Sphere is obviously too avant-garde. The Dyson Sphere is not feasible, but it is feasible to build a space power station. The reason why solar panels are moved into space is that not much energy can be collected on the ground. If the energy transmitted by the sun to the earth per second is calculated in watts, it is about 1700 trillion watts. With so much energy, how much can we collect?

There is a desert area with a total area of ​​43,000 square kilometers in the southwest and central border of Alxa Left Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, my country. We call it the "Tengger Desert". Here, my country has built the world's largest solar park with the largest power generation capacity. In an area of ​​43 square kilometers, photovoltaic solar panels are neatly arranged as far as the eye can see. This solar park provides the country with 1,500 megawatts of power generation.

This number is impressive, but it is nothing compared to the energy delivered to us by the sun. This is because the dense atmosphere blocks a lot of solar energy outside the earth, so we need to move solar panels into space. Do humans have this ability now? Yes, the current engineering technology level can fully meet the needs of building space power stations, so many countries, including my country, are conducting feasibility studies on space power stations, and some countries have even launched probes to conduct related exploration research.

Although building a space power station is not difficult, transmitting the collected solar energy back is a problem.

The simplest way is to use microwaves to transmit energy back, because microwaves are not absorbed by the earth's atmosphere, so the space power station can be placed at a higher position, such as in geosynchronous orbit. The advantage of putting a space power station in geosynchronous orbit is that the power station does not need to circle the earth and can always be in the same position relative to the earth, so only a corresponding microwave receiving device needs to be built on the ground, but the problem is that microwaves will diverge outward as the transmission distance increases, so the ground receiving device must also be very large, with a diameter of several kilometers or even more than ten kilometers.

If we don't want to build such a large ground receiving device, we can only use lasers to transmit energy back. Lasers do not diverge, so only a very small receiver is needed, but the problem is that lasers will be absorbed by the atmosphere. In order to reduce losses, we can only lower the height of the space power station.

Due to the lowering of the height of the space power station, it cannot be located in the geosynchronous orbit. In order to avoid falling, it can only circle around the earth, and the speed of rotation must be fast enough. Therefore, a large number of ground receiving devices must be built in the area opposite to the operating orbit of the space power station. This is also very difficult and involves complex international cooperation issues.

Of course, the energy collected by the space power station does not have to be transmitted back, it can also be "collected and used". Where is it used? It is used on airplanes. Electric cars are becoming more and more popular, but electric airplanes are progressing slowly. The reason is that the energy density of batteries is low. Carrying batteries on airplanes will greatly increase their own load. However, if a laser energy receiving device is directly equipped on the airplane, the energy received by the space power station can be directly transmitted to the airplane. The problem is solved, and it kills two birds with one stone. On the one hand, electric airplanes solve the power problem, and on the other hand, the space power station also solves the problem of energy return. So in the future, space power stations are likely to appear hand in hand with electric airplanes.

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