The world leader in producing solar panels – China seriously intends to explore space as a platform for creating and using electricity. To do this, the country is researching the development of orbital solar power plants, the latest of which is the fruit of the labors of employees of Xidian University.
Installing solar panels on geostationary satellites is a European idea that has been developed in the West since the 1970s, by identifying stable vertical places at 36,000 meters above sea level.
The rays of the Sun always fall on them, and they are rarely covered from the Sun by clouds. In addition, solar radiation is many times more intense outside the Earth.
Considering modern technologies, the efficiency of orbital solar panels will soon increase by ten times, making it possible to recover 7.6% of the solar energy.
The Chinese are getting closer to the goal and preparing to reap the fruits of their and other people’s labors. According to plans by the China Institute of Renewable Energy Engineering, the PRC is set to build up a quarter of its renewable energy infrastructure in 2022, primarily solar panels and wind turbines.
Yi Yuechun, deputy dean of the institute, said China would produce a record 156 gigawatts of renewable energy this year from new solar panels and wind turbines.
China is strengthening its position as an innovation leader in solar technology. Practical goals intensify space exploration by the PRC.
After severe developments of the country and plans for Mars, the Chinese announced their intention to explore Neptune.
The nuclear apparatus of the Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Chinese Atomic Energy Administration, and the Chinese Academy of Space Technology “Neptune Explorer” can begin to explore the giant ice planet and its satellites as early as 2030-2040.
Researchers from the Beihang University School of Astronautics and the CNSA Department of Science, Technology, and Quality believe Neptune played a vital role in the solar system’s formation due to the massive amount of gas it contains. Having mastered it, the Chinese can better understand the secret of how earthly life originated.
Traveling to Neptune is expensive, so NASA has left the project of resending the Voyager 2 probe to the back of the desk. The Chinese, however, would like to restart the project, as they have calculated that supplying the mission with electricity for 15 years is already possible and affordable today.
Study author Guobing Yu determined that a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) with a capacity of 10 kilowatts of energy (kWe) would be sufficient to study Neptune and its largest satellite Triton.
A nuclear battery, like the one used by the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, converts heat energy from the decay of radioactive material into electricity. It will be able to provide the mission with eight years of operation at full power of 10 kW and seven years of operation at low power of 2 kW, the study claims.
It is already possible for China to provide large-scale energy support for energy-intensive space research. Soon the time will come when the Celestial Empire, and behind it the whole world, will feed on the energy of space, cheaper and more environmentally friendly Earth.