The project of a promising solar space power plant (SKES) was developed by specialists from the Russian Space Systems (RKS). According to the press service of the RKS, with the help of the space power plant, it will be possible to provide electricity to hard-to-reach areas – island, mountain and northern. The space “battery” will also be able to transfer energy to other spacecraft for recharging and in case of accidents. The orbital power plant will consist of two segments: an unmanned spacecraft with a solar array area of 70 square meters. meters, accumulating the energy of the Sun and transmitting it to the Earth; a system of terrestrial mobile antennas that receive solar energy from orbit through a laser channel and convert it into electricity for terrestrial consumers.
“In the atmosphere of our planet, the sun’s rays are scattered and almost completely lose their energy efficiency. However, in outer space, the efficiency of using solar energy exceeds dozens of times, – said Maria Barkova, RKS research engineer. “It can be converted into a laser beam and transmitted to Earth with minimal energy loss. That is, humanity can draw unlimited energy in space from a renewable source – the Sun. This development is an excellent alternative to thermonuclear energy. “
The SCES receives solar radiation, accumulates and transmits it to the ground. The advantage of laser energy transfer is the short duration of the transmission (from a nanosecond) and the extremely low beam divergence. It is assumed that the space power plants will be in sun-synchronous orbits with an inclination of 82 degrees, 90 degrees. and 98 degrees.
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