A team from the California Technical University sent equipment and solar panels to Earth's orbit to study the utilization of solar energy.
Some time ago, China published possible plans for a space-based solar frame power station that would transmit energy to Earth.
Solar energy is more effective in space because light does not pass through the atmosphere and the panels are not polluted by dust.
A team of scientists at Caltech has revealed that it has sent an instrument cluster that includes solar cells are made of into orbit around the Earth aboard a Falcon 9 rocket in a final launch. The team said the launch is an important first step on the way to building a solar power station in Earth orbit.
The idea of building solar cells are made of stations in space first appeared decades ago. But the idea has always been difficult and impossible to implement even because of the huge costs of sending payloads into orbit around the Earth and the need for heavy and complex equipment. But with the recent dramatic drop in the cost of sending payloads into space, the idea is more feasible than ever, and there is even hope that it will be economically viable.
The appeal of building solar power plants in space is that it removes many of the usual drawbacks associated with solar energy. As the intensity of solar radiation in space is much greater than what reaches Earth (as a result of the dispersion of a large part of it in the atmosphere), and energy can be obtained continuously if the orbit is far enough to keep the station always exposed to light. Placing solar panels in space reduces the need for maintenance, as they will not be damaged by the usual vandalism and will not suffer from dust accumulation at the same level.
Just weeks before the launch, a team of Chinese scientists had released a paper on a project to build a solar power station in space. Of course, the paper addressed the same problem that American scientists are now working on: how to transfer energy from Earth's orbit to us, as options include the use of directed microwaves. But for the time being, the use of solar energy in this way continues to be a subject of science fiction.