SOL AR POWER FROM SPACE
SpaceX’s Starship could pave the way to a new kind of solar power
WORDS ANDREW MAY
Traditional solar power uses a photovoltaic panel at or near ground level to collect the Sun’s energy and turn it into electricity. It’s one of the most important sources of renewable energy, but it does come with limitations. It only works during daylight hours and when there’s no cloud cover. Unfortunately, this means it’s least useful in winter, which is exactly when we need the most energy.
But there’s another potentially more effective approach to solar power that’s been tossed around for the last 50 years or so. This involves placing satellites in carefully chosen orbits where they spend most of their time in sunlight, and then converting the energy collected into microwaves that can be transmitted down to Earth at any time of day or night, regardless of weather conditions.