SpaceX & Caltech Just Launched The Future Of Sustainable Energy
The Space Solar Power Demonstrator is a game changer for sustainable power.
Our current ultra-low-carbon energy sources have significant flaws. Solar is causing habitat loss, either directly or indirectly, by using up arable land and causing a substantial impact on the environment through intensive mining and end-of-life disposal. Both solar and wind are inherently unreliable and depend on massive, expensive, and carbon-intensive battery packs, and even with these mega packs, there is a risk of not meeting power demand. Meanwhile, nuclear is too expensive and isn’t applicable for all locations, and fusion power is still a distant daydream. But a breakthrough project at Caltech aims to fill this hole and develop a near-perfect energy source.
This practically faultless energy source is space-based solar power. You see, when you think about it, it makes no sense at all to put solar panels on the Earth’s surface. The light from the Sun has to pass through an atmosphere that filters out the most energetic rays; the weather regularly blocks this light, and half the day, the panel is in complete darkness. In contrast, a solar panel in geostationary orbit around the Earth gets the full, unfiltered, raw power of our celestial neighbour, has no weather to worry about, and…
