BEIJING, China - Humanity uses a lot of energy, and while solar power here on Earth is doing a reasonable job of contributing to the power mix, scientists have long hypothesized that solar power gathered from space itself would be an altogether more effective scenario. And now China says it's going to be the first to do exactly that, announcing plans to build a solar power station that will orbit the Earth at 36,000 kilometers, reports Rachel England for Engaget.
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The Intelligent Aerospace take:
February 18, 2019-China's China Academy of Space Technology Corporation is claiming that a proposed in-space solar farm would have a 99-percent uptime and harvest six times more power than terrestrial solar panels. The power station would likely weigh in around a thousand tons, so researchers are considering building it in space using robots and 3D printers.
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Jamie Whitney, Associate Editor
Intelligent Aerospace
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