MTC JOINS SPACE ENERGY INITIATIVE FOR IN-ORBIT SOLAR

摘要

The Manufacturing Technology Centre is set to play a leading role in the UK's new Space Energy Initiative, which is aiming to develop in-space solar energy technology. Backed by the government, the SEI consortium plans to develop a Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) demonstrator by 2030, with a commercial system in place by the middle of the century. Large arrays of solar panels would harvest the Sun's rays in-orbit, with satellites beaming the energy back to Earth via microwaves. While the concept of SBSP has been around since the 1980s, the radio frequency (RF) technology to transfer the energy has not been mature enough until now.