It became known that in China, three years ago, a project was laid for a ground station to receive high-energy microwave radiation from orbit. Construction was soon frozen for economic and environmental reasons. But two months ago, construction was resumed and will be completed by the end of this year. The goal is to receive energy from a 1-MW orbital station by 2030, and from 2049 - from 1-GW.
Scientists at Chongqing University say their project has found support from authorities and businesses after setting a goal for a carbon footprint neutral in China by 2060. The transmission of energy from the orbital station at a distance of 36 thousand km will be free of problems with clouds and fogs (constant in Chongqing). The orbital solar power plant will receive light 24 hours a day and transmit the resulting electricity in the form of microwave radiation to the earth. Losses in the atmosphere will be only 2%.
A ground station began to be built near the village of Heping in the Bishan region (southwestern China). 2 hectares of land were allocated for the site and a buffer zone was created around it, five times larger than that occupied by the object. Microwave radiation is a bad joke. Locals are strictly forbidden to enter it, although it has not yet come to space experiments. While scientists are learning to capture energy from balloons at an altitude of 300 m. At the next stage, it is planned to receive energy from an airship at an altitude of 20 km. Then the tests will be transferred to space.
The first orbital power plant under the project is planned to be launched in 2030. It will have a capacity of 1 MW. Scientists expect a full-scale project of an orbital power plant with a capacity of 1 GW by 2049 - the 100th anniversary of the founding of the PRC.
The resumption of construction of the experimental ground station does not mean that all problems have been resolved. Concerns remain that microwave power transmission could harm the health of local residents and create strong interference with electronics and wireless communications. All these and other problems will be studied in practice at the new center, which is estimated at 100 million yuan ($ 15.4 million).
There are many other uses for a high-energy beam from orbit, such as powering drones in the air or intercepting hypersonic missiles. In the US, a similar technology is also being studied, but are still in the early stages of prototyping . In three years, the US military is expected to send into orbit the first energy transmitter demonstrator to Earth. This technology is seen as a means of supplying power to military bases.
The British authorities are also interested in the technology of transferring energy from orbit, but so far only ordered an expert assessment of the possibilities. But in New Zealand, wireless transmission of energy is being tested as a way of laying power grids in hard-to-reach places and for temporary connection of subscribers.
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