After careful study, scientists have discovered that when sunlight reaches the Earth's surface through the atmosphere, about a third of the light energy is reflected back into space. Consequently, the solar energy received above the atmosphere can be more than 4 times greater than that received on the ground. As a result, scientists came up with a bold idea: to build solar power plants in space.
To this end, the solar energy satellite carrying the solar power plant must be sent into a geosynchronous orbit 36,000 kilometers above the ground. The time it takes for a satellite to circle the Earth is exactly the same as the time it takes for the Earth to complete one rotation, which is 24 hours.
The electric satellite is equipped with huge solar panels, which can directly convert solar energy into electric energy, convert electric energy into microwave energy andsend back to the ground, the ground receiving station uses a giant; antenna to retransmit this microwave energy converted into electrical energy.
Now that humans have mastered space technology, it is no longer a dream to build various space solar power plants with power generation capacities ranging from 2,500 megawatts to 10,000 megawatts. The United States launched one in the early 1970s. built an electric satellite equipped with 147,840 solar cells, capable of producing 11.5 kilowatts of electricity. It is similar to another solar power generation device with a power generation capacity of 11.3 kilowatts installed on the “Apollo” spacecraft.
Of course, some technical difficulties remain when building large-scale space solar power plants. For example, a space plant with a power generation capacity of 10 million kilowatts requiresa solar panel area of 64 square kilometers; at the same time, an array antenna that sends microwave energy to the ground also requires an area of 64 square kilometers; 64 square kilometers. About 2 square kilometers. In addition, for high-power satellites, they must be disassembled, transported to space, then assembled and once the satellite is installed, it must be maintained and inspected regularly; In this way, it is necessary to have special transportation vehicles like the space shuttle that can travel between earth and space.
This whole series of problems still requires efforts from scientists to resolve them further.
Solar panel components on satellites
Suitable housing, installation of thrusters, holes for power cords that can be used as programming interfaces, positions of switches. The hole is suitable forwireless camera.
1. Drill holes for solar panels. Make a hole for the camera. programming interface. Thruster. Camera.
2. Make the thruster, solder the LED and circuit onto the universal board, and remember to leave space for the lead wires. Glue the circuit board into the pusher and screw it into the lamp base. Glue a suitably sized socket screw with a nut.
3. Make a frame. A chassis is required to support the circuit and the solar panels. By layering a few layers of circuit boards, you can create a suitable, inexpensive chassis and easily add components to it.
4. Make the solar panel bracket, install the camera and install the programming interface.
5. Make circuit boards and assemble them. That's it.
Science fiction becomes reality! The space solar power plant is here
Presentation of the coposition of solar panels and functions of each part
1.
Tempered glass: its role is to protect the main body of energy production (such as cells), there are requirements for the selection of light transmittance: 1. The light transmittance should be high...
2.
EVA: used for bonding and fixing tempered glass and generate electricity Main body (battery sheet), the quality of the transparent EVA material directly affects the quality of the component...
3.
Sheet battery: the main function is to generate electricity, and it is the mainstream in the power generation main body market. These are crystalline silicon solar cells, thin film solar cells, both...
4. .
Backsheet: functions, sealing, insulation and waterproofing. TPT, TPE and other materials are generally used and mustbe resistant to aging. Most component manufacturers...
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It sounds like science fiction: a floating giant. Space solar power plants transmit enormous amounts of energy to Earth. For a long time, the concept, first proposed by Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in the 1920s, mainly inspired writers.
A century later, however, scientists have made enormous progress in making this concept a reality. The European Space Agency has recognized the potential of these efforts and is now seeking to fund these projects, predicting that the first industrial resource we will obtain from space will be "beam power."
Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time, so the stakes are high. From rising global temperatures to climate change, the effects of climate change are already being feltall over the world. Meeting this challenge requires fundamental changes in the way we produce and consume energy.
In recent years, renewable energy technology has developed rapidly, improving efficiency and reducing costs. However, a major barrier to their adoption is that they do not provide a continuous supply of energy. Wind and solar farms can only produce energy when the wind blows or the sun shines, but we need electricity 24 hours a day, every day. Ultimately, before we can move to renewable energy, we need a way to store energy at scale.
One possible way around this problem is to generate solar power in space. This has many advantages. Space solar power plants can rotate facing the sun 24 hours a day. Earth's atmosphere also absorbs and reflectssome of the sunlight, so solar cells above the atmosphere receive more sunlight and produce more energy.
But one of the main challenges is how to assemble, launch and deploy a structure of this scale. A solar power plant can cover an area of 10 square kilometers, the equivalent of 1,400 football fields. The use of lightweight materials will also be crucial to ensure that the cost of launching the space station into space on a rocket is kept to a minimum.
One proposed solution is to develop a fleet of thousands of small satellites that would be grouped and configured into a single large solar array. In 2017, researchers at the California Institute of Technology presented a design for a modular power plant made up of thousands of ultra-light solar tiles. They also presented a prototype of a tile weighing only280 grams per square meter, the equivalent of the weight of a card.
Recently, the development of manufacturing industries such as 3D printing is also considering this application. At the University of Liverpool, we are exploring new manufacturing techniques to print ultra-lightweight solar cells onto solar sails. A solar sail is a foldable, lightweight, highly reflective membrane that harnesses the pressure effects of solar radiation to propel a spacecraft forward without fuel. We are investigating how to integrate solar cells onto solar sail structures to create large fuel-free solar power plants.
These methods will allow us to build power plants in space. In fact, it may one day be possible to build and deploy in space the means of the International Space Station or a future Lunar Gateway station in orbit aroundof the Moon. In fact, such a device could help provide electricity to the Moon.
The possibilities don't stop there. While we currently rely on materials from Earth to build power plants, scientists are also considering using resources from space to build them, such as materials found on the Moon.
Another big challenge will be transporting electricity to Earth. The plan is to convert electricity from solar cells into energy waves and use electromagnetic fields to transmit them to an antenna on the Earth's surface. The antenna then converts the waves back into electrical energy. Researchers led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency have developed designs and demonstrated an orbiter system that should be able to do just that.
There is still a lot of work to be done in this area, butthe goal is that in the coming decades, solar power plants in space will become a reality. Chinese researchers have designed a system called Omega that they aim to have operational by 2050. The system is expected to be able to deliver 2 gigawatts of power to the Earth's grid at peak performance, which is a huge figure. To produce that much electricity from solar panels on Earth, more than 6 million solar panels would be needed.
Smaller solar-powered satellites, such as those that power lunar rovers, may become available sooner.
Globally, the scientific community is investing time and energy in the development of solar power plants in space. We hope they will one day become an important tool in our fight against climate change.