Space Power

Wireless charging systems may sound like nothing new, but at least one firm in Japan has much bigger ideas than charging your smartphone. In fact, the goal is to someday transmit large amounts of electrical power from space-based solar arrays to earth-based receivers via microwaves. The benefit is that the collectors would not be affected by weather and could operate continuously. But let’s take a step back to where the technology stands today (which is fairly impressive in and of itself).

A prototype system was unveiled at an electronics show last month that utilizes flat antenna (called “rectenna”) tuned to 5.8 GHz. To date, tests have shown that the system can successfully transmit power over a distance of about 50 meters. The power losses, however, were considerable, harvesting only 340 watts out of the 1.8 kilowatts pumped into the system.

Even so, the technology is expected to continue to progress, and short of the ultimate goal of transmitting power from space, there are many uses for shorter range systems, including transmitting power around factories to enable machines, sensors and workstations to be reconfigured without the need for new power cabling. It could also be used to divert emergency power from airborne balloons to areas hit by natural disasters.

For information: Japan Space Systems, The Kikai ShinkoKaikan Building 3F, 3-5-8 Shibakoen, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0011, Japan; phone: +81—3-6809-1410; fax: +81-3-3432-3760; Website: http://www.jspacesystems.or.jp/en_/