China is planning to build a solar farm in space, a project that one scientist likened to recreating the Three Gorges hydroelectric project in a geostationary orbit, South China Morning Post reports.
Long Lehao, a rocket scientist and member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said the aim was to build a solar array 1km-wide.
He made his remarks during a lecture in October, but just now made available by the academy.
It would collect energy at a constant rate with an efficiency 10-times greater than photovoltaic panels on Earth.
Once generated, the energy would be converted to microwaves and beamed to a collector station.
Long said super-heavy rockets would be used to carry the elements of the array into position.
“We are working on this project now,” he said.
“It is as significant as moving the Three Gorges Dam to a geostationary orbit 36,000km above the Earth. This is an incredible project to look forward to.”
He added that the Long March-9, a reusable heavy-lift rocket presently being developed by his team, could be used to transport photovoltaic modules into orbit.
The vehicle is expected to have a payload capacity exceeding 150 tonnes to orbit, equivalent to Space X’s forthcoming Starship.
Taking 17 years to build, the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river in central China is the world’s largest hydropower plant, with an annual output of about 100 billion kWh – enough to power about 5.4 million homes.
In previous discussions of a space energy system, the Chinese have consistently mentioned a deadline of 2035 for having the first example in operation.
Work started on an experimental space solar power station in the Bishan National High-tech Zone in Chongqing in 2019.
In November 2023, researchers from the Xian University published test results for the “Chasing Sun Project”, the world’s first complete ground verification system for space solar power.
According to the Interesting Engineering website, this system demonstrated world-leading performance in microwave power transmission, beam collection efficiency, and power transfer efficiency.
Interesting Engineering adds that US companies have also been active in the sector, with aerospace companies Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman working on technological development.
Japan is also planning to test a space-based solar power station this year, and in 2022 the European Space Agency said it would carry out a feasibility study into space-based solar power generation (see further reading).
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