After successfully returning lunar samples, landing, and travelling to Mars in its first test, China is set to launch its first solar-powered space factory. The project is already in its infancy and the agency intends to launch it in 2028, two years longer than originally estimated. The solar space station aims to convert solar energy into electricity and microwaves. It can be used to control moving satellites in orbit and can direct the Earth’s beams to fixed locations via wireless power transmission.
According to an official report, the study was conducted by a research team from Xidian University. The solar station can bring solar energy to Earth and has successfully passed tests in the early stages. The space solar power plant is probably the hotspot technology used in the ongoing Space Expedition project to produce energy. The power plant has a capacity of 10 kilowatts.
A similar race was established at the University of Xidian by university students and researchers. The tall structure, about 75 metres long, consists of five subsystems that monitor the field of solar energy. The project is part of OMEGA (Orb-Shape Membrane Energy Gathering Array), a plan to generate solar energy from space, which was introduced in 2014.
After a successful geostationary deployment, the ultimate goal of OMEGA is to save solar energy. Conversion to electricity is another process. The last step is to send him to the ground. A 33-acre test facility has been built in the Bishan area of Chongqing to test the potential of a solar power plant in space. The facility will investigate how living things are affected by microwave radiation sent back to Earth while developing space shuttle technology, said Xie Gengxin, deputy head of the Chongqing Civil-Military Integration Research Institute, in an interview with Forbes.
