How space will help the earth with energy resources. Space energy space energy is a type of alternative energy that involves the use of solar energy to generate electricity - presentation. Practice of using the energy of Space and Earth

There is no atmosphere in space, it never rains, and in geostationary orbits it is never night: this is the ideal place for a solar power plant that will collect energy 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. $CUT$ Clean Energy from Above

The United States, China, India and Japan are already developing their own projects that will include robotic solar arrays that will send gigantic amounts of clean and renewable energy to Earth wirelessly.

Some options involve sending up to 1 GW of energy via beams to Earth - enough to power a large city. According to Paul Jaffe, a space engineer at the US Naval Research Laboratory, the concept is absolutely scientifically sound.

“NASA and the US Department of Energy did a $20 million study in the late '70s and looked at the concept in detail,” Yaffe says. “At that time, everyone came to the conclusion that there were no problems with physics, but there were questions regarding economics.”

The main problem is the cost of the series of space launches that are needed to build a satellite that transmits energy. With a launch cost of $40,000 per kilogram in some cases, the final price tag for the first space-based solar power plant could be as high as $20 billion.

Private contractors

As we enter an era of private space exploration that significantly reduces launch costs, basic physics suggests that delivering cargo into space remains extremely expensive.

“This topic is reviewed every 10 years, when technologies change, and therefore the economic side of the issue changes.”

Yaffe says the war in the Middle East gave new impetus to the development of space-based solar stations as scientific engineers faced the challenge of delivering power to hostile areas. Numerous and hidden receivers could capture cosmic energy and supply the military without having to lug dangerous and expensive diesel generators through water or air.

“If you could extract electricity from space, you would probably wonder.”

Security questions

There are two ways to deliver energy to Earth: in the form of laser beams or microwaves.

The laser beam option involves sending small laser-transmitting satellites into space and has a relatively low cost, between $500 million and $1 billion. Self-assembling satellites would further reduce costs, and small-diameter lasers would be fairly easy to assemble on Earth.

But with an output of 1 to 10 MW, many satellites will be needed to provide enough energy. Additionally, satellites will have problems with laser transmission during cloudy or rainy weather.

The microwave option would allow unimpeded transmission during rain, snow or other atmospheric conditions and would be able to transmit gigawatts of energy.

Microwave technology, according to Yaffe, has been around for many decades: back in 1964, scientists were able to transmit energy to a helicopter using microwaves. Yaffe says that with a large transmitter area, the microwaves will be so scattered that they won't pose a threat to life. But their main drawback remains the need for hundreds of launches into space, which will make it possible to build a space station. All this amounts to tens of billions of dollars.

“Unfortunately, it is worth noting that the public is not very fond of microwaves and lasers, since microwaves are more often associated with microwaves in the kitchen, and lasers with space battles in science fiction.”

Energy sandwich

Jaffe's research focuses on so-called "sandwich modules" - elements of solar cells that convert sunlight into energy. One side of the sandwich receives solar energy using a photovoltaic panel, electronics in the center convert the current into a radio wave, and an antenna on the other side sends the beam to the ground.

"People probably don't know that radio waves can transmit energy," Yaffe says. - Because we are used to thinking about radio in the context of communications, telephones or televisions. They don’t think about the fact that radio waves can transmit energy.”

Despite the fact that all the technologies are already available to equip a space solar array, Yaffe believes that the first such station will not appear soon. Even though the Japanese made such a station one of the pillars of their space program.

“Without the research base that we have in the United States, for example, is researching the energy of thermonuclear fusion, we are unlikely to make progress. If the Japanese succeed in the next five years, people might start talking about why we're not doing anything."

Ultimately, Yaffe says, it's hard to tell if an idea is viable until you actually try it.

The atmosphere prevents us from receiving and using “clean” solar energy on the Earth’s surface. A solution naturally arises: to place solar power plants in space, in Earth orbit. There will be no atmospheric interference; weightlessness will make it possible to create multi-kilometer structures that are necessary to “collect” solar energy. Such stations have great merit. The transformation of one type of energy into another is inevitably accompanied by the release of heat, and dumping it into space will prevent dangerous overheating of the earth's atmosphere.

Today it is impossible to say for sure what solar space power plants (SCPS) will actually look like. And the designers began designing the SCES back in the late 60s. XX century

The path of energy from the receiver of the electromagnetic radiation of the Sun to the outlet in the apartment or the power supply of the machine can be different. In the very first projects, the following was proposed: solar panels generating electricity - an ultra-high frequency (microwave) transmitter on the SKES - a receiver on Earth - electrical distribution substations. In practice, it would look like this: multi-kilometer planes of solar panels on a durable frame; transmitter array antennas; similar to them (and also many kilometers long) energy receivers on the surface of the Earth. The option, as it quickly became clear, is far from ideal.

Engineers have tried to abandon the use of solar panels altogether. For example, it was proposed to use various converters (say, mirrors) at the station to convert sunlight into heat, boil the working fluid and use its steam to rotate turbines with electric generators. But even in this option, the process of obtaining energy remains very long: sunlight through heat and mechanical movement is converted into electricity, then again into electromagnetic waves for transmission to Earth, and then again into electricity. Each stage leads to energy loss; receiving antennas on Earth must occupy huge areas. But the worst thing is that the microwave beam negatively affects the Earth’s ionosphere and has a detrimental effect on dozens of living organisms. Therefore, the space above the antennas must be closed for aviation flights. How to protect birds from death?

The same problems arise when transmitting energy via a laser beam, which is also more difficult to convert back into electric current. It is more expedient to use the energy obtained in space in space, without sending it to Earth. About 90% of the energy generated on the planet is spent on production. Its main consumers are metallurgy, mechanical engineering, and the chemical industry. By the way, they are also the main polluters of the environment. Humanity is not yet able to do without such industries. But you can remove them from the Earth. Why not use raw materials mined on the Moon or asteroids by creating corresponding bases on satellites and asteroids? The task is certainly a complex one, and the construction of solar space power plants is only the first step towards solving it. Wind turbines, damless hydroelectric power plants and other environmentally friendly power plants can handle the production of electricity for domestic needs.

Any version of the solar space power plant project assumes that this is a colossal structure and more than one. Even the smallest SCES must weigh tens of thousands of tons. And this gigantic mass will need to be launched into an orbit distant from the Earth. Modern launch vehicles are able to deliver the required number of blocks, units and solar panels to a low reference orbit. To reduce the mass of huge mirrors that concentrate sunlight, they can be made from the thinnest mirror film, for example, in the form of inflatable structures. The assembled fragments of the solar space power station must be delivered to high orbit and docked there. And the section of the solar power plant will be able to fly to the “place of work” under its own power, if only low-thrust electric rocket engines are installed on it.

The existence of a universal cosmic system that man uses, realizing his supersensible phenomena, was imagined by various peoples many centuries ago. Indian philosophy shows one of its most interesting ideas, that is, the existence of prana, that is, cosmic, existing in five different forms and supporting various life processes, such as the “wind of the body.”

The sacred books of Buddhists and Hindus describe exactly the same cosmic primordial energy, which is denoted by the mystical syllable “Om” or “Aum”, which causes vibrations in the brain. Such vibrations are capable of bringing all kinds of human nerve centers () to a certain state. It is this that allows you to accept life (cosmic).

The invisible life force that supports the overall divine principle is described in the Bible as the “Holy Spirit.” Japanese and Chinese teachings designate the life force as a river with its source at a point above the navel, dispersed from the lungs throughout the body through many nerve channels - the so-called “meridians”. All matter can be considered as a manifestation of the given on the material level. The term "ether" was used by Aristotle, the Greek philosopher and scientist, to designate the fifth element.

“Element” initially included all objects that are located outside the earth’s atmosphere. From the ether, in Aristotle’s understanding, came human beings, which he described as pure immaterial. In the Middle Ages, ether was explained by physicists as a substance that fills space. They assumed that the movements of waves in a given ether cause light to reach the earth through a certain vacuum. That is why it was often called “luminiferous ether”.

Isaac Newton understood the ether not only as a medium that fills universal space, he proved that all matter and individual atoms are permeated by that same ether. Approximately 150 years ago, Karl-Ludwig Freiherr von Reichenbach, a German naturalist and chemist, who became famous thanks to invention of kerosene, paraffin, etc., began to conduct some experiments. They concerned the so-called “vital energy” or “Odcraft”. It is this power of “Od” that manifests itself as a mystical glow emanating from the periphery of bodies - human and any other - organic and inorganic, and is perceived by sensitive people (prone to excessive sensitivity) without the help of technology. Many scientists criticized Reichenbach throughout his life, despite the fact that , that his experiments were repeated many times, which brought irrefutable evidence.

Being firmly convinced of the physical nature of his discovery, Reichenbach himself had difficulty accepting the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe objectivity of pushing for the recognition of sensitivity in his research. He distinguished between more sensitive and less sensitive people. Around the same period, James Maxwell, an English physicist, hypothesized the existence of the ether in the form of a finer structure of material substance than that of visible bodies, existing in any of the parts of space that seem empty to man. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the study of the ether stopped, since the statement put forward by Einstein that it does not exist was accepted by the bulk of scientists.

Only in 1951, the English physicist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Dirac raised this question again, and as a result, it was proven “mathematically” that the cosmic ether actually exists. After this, Einstein’s position on the existence of the ether was revised by himself, that, in principle, he was revised throughout his life. Since then, scientists have asserted the existence of a spatial fluid, or cosmic ether, contained in their own experiments. There are more than enough examples from mythology and texts from physical science of a later period. But, if we dwell on the primordial energy of the cosmos, which exists and allows life processes to take place, we can come to certain conclusions. Firstly, the existence of life has been considered as a given since the Middle Ages in various world cultures. Secondly, the presence of primordial energy in space and education it of all matter is considered by famous scientists as a necessity. Thus, the question arises whether we are talking about the same physical phenomenon - it is worth comparing the words of our ancestors about “vital energy” and the words of famous scientists about the ether as cosmic primordial energy.

The Austrian doctor Reich conducted research on vegetative (that is, unconscious, not influenced by the will) currents in the human body. They assumed the existence of cosmic energy, which the human body is capable of absorbing, as well as accumulating and releasing. He called this Orgone energy, and the process of releasing, accumulating and receiving it was reflected in the following formula: “tension - charging - unloading - relaxation.” One of the closest employees of this doctor described the role of this biological pulsation in the general field of a living organism.

He believed that the energy economy of the body is regulated by pulsation in much the same way as the supply of blood to all organs is carried out thanks to the beats of the heart. The autonomic or autonomic system, affecting digestion, sexuality, emotions, respiration and blood circulation, in his opinion, controls the state of change, that is, its metabolism.

For example, breathing is controlled by the will to a certain extent, and mainly by the centralized nervous system. Thus, the respiratory system allows a person to penetrate the free biological pulsation of the body. The free metabolism of any organism is its basis. That is, you can recognize it by its biological unobstructed pulsation. Initially, Orgone was localized by Reich only in the form of outgoing radiation from a living organism, but later he discovered the manifestation of Orgone everywhere, as in the “luminiferous ether” discovered by scientists a little earlier. Thus, free exchange occurs regularly.

That is, Orgone can create entire systems, such as suns, planets and even galaxies. Thus, the ether, described by various scientists, Orgone, described by Reich, cosmic, described by ancient peoples and various directions - all this has a common relationship, and, despite minor differences, clear, pronounced parallels are still drawn between these concepts.

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Cosmic energy

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The existence of universal cosmic energy, which is used by man and realizes his supersensible phenomena, was imagined by various peoples many centuries ago. Indian philosophy shows one of its most interesting concepts, that is, the existence of prana, that is, cosmic energy, existing in five different forms and supporting various life processes such as the “wind of the body.” Sacred books of Buddhists and Hindus...

Recently, a conference “New Generation of Suborbital Explorers” was held in Colorado, at which, in particular, projects for the construction of space solar stations were discussed. And if no one took such ideas seriously before, now they are really close to implementation.

Thus, the US Congress is preparing a plan for America’s gradual transition from fossil fuels to space energy. A specially created space department will be responsible for the implementation of the project; NASA, the Department of Energy and other organizations will play an active role in its work.

By October of this year, the Department of Justice must submit to Congress all the necessary changes and additions to current federal legislation in order to begin construction of space solar power plants. As part of the program, at the initial stage it is planned to develop nuclear space propulsion systems to use reusable spacecraft for space logistics and the construction of solar power plants in orbit.

Technologies are also under active development to convert sunlight into electricity and teleport it to Earth.

In particular, experts from the California Institute of Technology propose illuminating the planet using orbital “flying carpets.” These are systems of 2,500 panels, 25 mm thick and 2/3 of a football field long. Elements of such a station will be delivered into orbit by rockets like the Space Launch System, an American super-heavy launch vehicle being developed by NASA. The space power plant is being created as part of the SSPI (Space Solar Power Initiative), a partnership between California Tech University and Northrup Grumman. The latter has invested $17.5 million to develop the core components of the system over the next three years. The initiative was also supported by researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

According to Caltech professor Harry Atwater, who led the Space Solar Power Initiative, "magic carpets" convert solar energy into radio waves and send them to earth. The energy will be transmitted using the phased array principle used in radar systems. This will create a flow moving in any direction.

Solar panels consist of tiles measuring 10x10 cm and weighing about 0.8 g, which will ensure a relatively low cost of launching the structure. Each tile will transmit the converted energy autonomously and if one of them fails, the rest will continue to work. The loss of a few elements due to solar flares or small meteorites will not harm the power plant. According to scientists' calculations, with mass production, the cost of electricity from such a source will be less than when using coal or natural gas.

The percentage of ground-mounted solar installations in the overall energy supply balance of many countries around the world is becoming increasingly higher. But the capabilities of such power plants are limited: at night and in heavy clouds, solar panels lose their ability to generate electricity. Therefore, the ideal option is to place solar power plants in orbit, where day does not give way to night, and clouds do not create barriers between the Sun and the panels. The main advantage of building a power plant in space is its potential efficiency. Solar panels located in space can generate ten times more energy than batteries located on the surface of the Earth.

The idea of ​​orbital power plants has been developed for a long time; scientists from NASA and the Pentagon have been engaged in similar research since the 60s. Previously, the implementation of such projects was hampered by the high cost of transportation, but with the development of technology, space power plants may become a reality in the foreseeable future.

There are already several interesting projects for the construction of solar installations in orbit. In addition to the Space Solar Power Initiative, the Americans are developing an orbital solar panel that will absorb solar radiation and transmit electron beams using radio waves to a receiver on earth. The authors of the development were specialists from the US Navy Research Laboratory. They built a compact solar module with a photovoltaic panel on one side. Inside the panel there is electronics that convert direct current into radio frequency for signal transmission, the other side supports an antenna for transmitting electron beams to Earth.

According to the lead author of the development, Paul Jaffe, the lower the frequency of the electron beam carrying energy, the more reliable its transmission will be in bad weather. And at a frequency of 2.45 GHz, you can receive energy even during the rainy season. The solar receiver will provide energy for all military operations; diesel generators can be forgotten forever.

The United States is not the only country that plans to receive electricity from space. The fierce struggle for traditional energy resources has forced many states to look for alternative energy sources.

The Japanese space exploration agency JAXA has developed a photovoltaic platform for installation in Earth orbit. The solar energy collected using the installation will be supplied to receiving stations on the Earth and converted into electricity. Solar energy will be collected at an altitude of 36 thousand km.

Such a system, consisting of a series of ground and orbital stations, should begin operating as early as 2030, with a total capacity of 1 GW, which is comparable to a standard nuclear power plant. To achieve this, Japan plans to build an artificial island 3 km long, on which a network of 5 billion antennas will be deployed to convert ultra-high frequency radio waves into electricity. JAXA researcher Susumi Sasaki, who led the development, is confident that placing solar batteries in space will lead to a revolution in energy, making it possible over time to completely abandon traditional energy sources.

China has similar plans, which will build a solar power plant in Earth orbit larger than the International Space Station. The total area of ​​the installation's solar panels will be 5-6 thousand square meters. km. According to expert calculations, such a station will collect solar rays 99% of the time, and space solar panels will be able to generate 10 times more electricity per unit area than their ground-based counterparts. It is assumed that the generated electricity will be converted into microwaves or a laser beam for transmission to a ground collector. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2030, and the project will cost about $1 trillion.

Worldwide engineers are assessing the possibilities of building solar space power plants not only in orbit, but also in areas closer to the Sun, near Mercury. In this case, almost 100 times less solar panels will be required. In this case, receiving devices can be moved from the Earth's surface into the stratosphere, which will allow efficient energy transfer in the millimeter and submillimeter ranges.

Projects for lunar solar power plants are also being developed.

For example, the Japanese company Shimizu proposed creating a belt of solar panels stretching along the entire equator of the Moon for 11 thousand km and a width of 400 km.

It will be placed on the back side of the Earth's satellite so that the system is constantly exposed to the sun's rays. The panels can be connected using conventional power cables or optical systems. The generated electricity is planned to be transmitted using large antennas and received using special receivers on Earth.

In theory, the project looks great, all that remains is to figure out how to deliver hundreds of thousands of panels to the Earth’s satellite and install them there, as well as how to deliver energy from the Moon to our planet without losing a significant part of it along the way: after all, you will have to cover 364 thousand km. So the ideas of creating lunar power plants are too far from reality and if they are realized, it will not be very soon.

Tatyana Gromova

• Fantastic power plants

It is no secret that in line with the constant struggle for more productive, environmentally friendly and cheaper energy, humanity is increasingly resorting to alternative sources of precious energy. In many countries, a fairly large number of residents have identified the need to use solar modules to supply their homes with electricity.

Some of them came to this conclusion thanks to difficult calculations to save material resources, and some were forced to take such a responsible step by circumstances, one of which was the inaccessible geographical location, causing the lack of reliable communications. But it’s not only in such hard-to-reach places that solar panels are needed. There are boundaries much more distant than the edge of the earth - this is space. A solar battery in space is the only source of generating the required amount of electricity.

Basics of Space Solar Energy

The idea of ​​using solar panels in space first appeared more than half a century ago, during the first launches of artificial earth satellites. At that time, in the USSR, Nikolai Stepanovich Lidorenko, a professor and specialist in the field of physics, especially in the field of electricity, substantiated the need for the use of endless energy sources on spacecraft. Such energy could only be the energy of the sun, which was produced using solar modules.

Currently, all space stations operate exclusively on solar energy.

Space itself is a great helper in this matter, since the sun’s rays, so necessary for the process of photosynthesis in solar modules, are abundant in outer space, and there is no interference with their consumption.

A disadvantage of using solar panels in low-Earth orbit may be the effect of radiation on the material used to make the photographic plate. Due to this negative influence, the structure of solar cells changes, which leads to a decrease in electricity generation.

Fantastic power plants

In scientific laboratories all over the world, a similar task is currently taking place - the search for free electricity from the sun. Just not on the scale of an individual house or city, but on the scale of the entire planet. The essence of this work is to create solar modules that are huge in size and, accordingly, in energy production.

The area of ​​such modules is huge and placing them on the surface of the earth will entail many difficulties, such as:

• large and free areas for installing light receivers,
• influence of weather conditions on the efficiency of modules,
• costs for maintenance and cleaning of solar panels.

All these negative aspects exclude the installation of such a monumental structure on the ground. But there is a way out. It consists of installing giant solar modules in low-Earth orbit. When such an idea is implemented, humanity will receive a solar energy source that is always exposed to sunlight, will never require snow removal, and most importantly will not take up useful space on the ground.

Of course, whoever is the first to install solar panels for space will dictate their terms in the global energy sector in the future. It is no secret that the reserves of minerals on our earth are not only not endless, but on the contrary, every day reminds us that humanity will soon have to switch to alternative sources forcibly. That is why the development of space solar modules in Earth orbit is on the list of priority tasks for power engineers and specialists designing power plants of the future.

Problems of placing solar modules in earth orbit

The difficulties of creating such power plants are not only in the installation, delivery and deployment of solar modules in low-Earth orbit. The greatest problems are caused by the transmission of electric current generated by solar modules to the consumer, that is, to the ground. Of course, you can’t stretch the wires, and you can’t transport them in a container. There are almost unrealistic technologies for transmitting energy over distances without tangible materials. But such technologies cause many controversial hypotheses in the scientific world.

Firstly, such strong radiation will negatively affect a wide area of ​​signal reception, that is, a significant part of our planet will be irradiated. What if there will be a lot of such space stations over time? This could lead to irradiation of the entire surface of the planet, resulting in unpredictable consequences.

Secondly a negative point may be the partial destruction of the upper layers of the atmosphere and the ozone layer, in places where energy is transferred from the power plant to the receiver. Even a child can imagine consequences of this kind.

In addition to everything, there are many nuances of a different nature that increase the negative aspects and delay the launch of such devices. There can be many such emergency situations, from the difficulty of repairing panels in the event of an unexpected breakdown or collision with a cosmic body, to the banal problem of how to dispose of such an unusual structure after the end of its service life.

Despite all the negative aspects, humanity, as they say, has nowhere to go. Solar energy, today, is the only source of energy that can, in theory, cover the growing needs of people for electricity. None of the currently existing energy sources on earth can compare their future prospects with this unique phenomenon.

Approximate implementation timeframe

A solar space power plant has long ceased to be a theoretical question. The first launch of the power plant into earth orbit is already scheduled for 2040. Of course, this is only a trial model, and it is far from the global structures that are planned to be built in the future. The essence of such a launch is to see in practice how such a power plant will operate under operating conditions. The country that took on such a difficult mission is Japan. The estimated area of ​​the batteries, theoretically, should be about four square kilometers.

If experiments show that such a phenomenon as a solar power plant can exist, then the mainstream of solar energy will have a clear path for the development of such inventions. If the economic aspect will not be able to stop the whole thing at the initial stage. The fact is that, according to theoretical calculations, in order to launch a full-fledged solar power plant into orbit, more than two hundred launches of cargo launch vehicles are needed. For your information, the cost of one launch of a heavy truck, based on existing statistics, is approximately 0.5 - 1 billion dollars. The arithmetic is simple, and the results are not reassuring.

The resulting amount is huge, and it will only be used to deliver the disassembled elements into orbit, but it is still necessary to assemble the entire construction set.

To summarize all that has been said, it can be noted that the creation of a space solar power plant is a matter of time, but such a structure can only be built by superpowers that will be able to bear the entire economic burden from the implementation of the process.