Japan Beams Solar Energy from Orbit.

In a world-first achievement this February, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully transmitted electricity wirelessly from space to a ground station on Earth. The OHISAMA satellite, orbiting at 400 kilometers, collected sunlight via high-efficiency solar panels and converted it into microwave signals. These microwaves were beamed down to a receiving station in Suwa, Nagano, where they were converted back into usable electricity. While the initial output was modest roughly enough to power a coffee maker it proved the physics of space-based solar power works. Because space solar is unaffected by weather or nighttime, it provides a consistent, 24/7 energy source. JAXA aims to scale this to a one-gigawatt orbital array by 2050, enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes.

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