Harvesting the sun's abundantenergy from space could provide a cost-effective way to meet the world's power needs, a group of international scientists have said.
Orbiting power plants capable of collecting solar energy and beaming it to Earth appear "technically feasible" within a decade or two based on technologies now in the laboratory, it has been claimed.
"It is clear that solar power delivered from space could play a tremendously important role in meeting the global need for energy during the 21st Century," a study group of the Paris-headquartered International Academy of Astronautics said.
The study, which was led by John Mankins, a 25-year Nasa veteran , was billed as the first international assessment of potential ways of collecting solar energy in space and delivering it to Earth via wireless power transmission.
Some scientists believe that space solar power is a potential long-term energysolution for Earth.
The idea is to put first one, then a few, and later scores of solar-powered satellites in orbit over the equator.
Each will be as wide as several kilometers across and the spacecraft would collect sunlight up to 24 hours a day.
The power would be converted to electricity on-board the spacecraft and sent to wherever it is needed on Earth by a large microwave-transmitting antenna or by lasers, then fed into a power grid.





据英国《每日邮报》11月15日报道，一个国际科学家小组称，太空中丰富的太阳光能可以为全球提供一种成本划算的供电方式。

科学家们声称，太空轨道发电厂能收集太阳能并将其发送回地球。基于现有的技术，这种发电厂在未来十年到二十年内在技术上是可以实现的。


国家宇航科学院（总部位于巴黎）的一个科研小组称："很明显，在21世纪，太空中释放出的太阳能在应对全球能量的需求中扮演着非常重要的角色。"

由美国宇航局资深人士--25岁的约翰-曼金斯领导的这项研究，声称是首次对太空太阳能的收集以及利用无线电力装置实现地面输送做出了国际性的评估。

一些科学家认为，太空太阳能对地球是一种潜在的长期能源供给。

科学家们的设想是在赤道上方的太空轨道实现从单颗到大量人造卫星的投放。

每颗人造卫星将达上千米宽，而航天器会每天24小时的收集太阳光。

太阳能将被转化为航天器内部的电力，并通过微波发射天线或激光输送入电力网，然后再供给地球上任何需要电力的地区。

• abundant [ə´bʌndənt] a.丰富的；充分的 (初中英语单词)
• energy [´enədʒi] n.活力，精力；能力 (初中英语单词)
• international [,intə´næʃənəl] a.国际的，世界的 (初中英语单词)
• capable [´keipəbəl] a.有能力；能干的 (初中英语单词)
• academy [ə´kædəmi] n.专科学校；学会；协会 (初中英语单词)
• solution [sə´lu:ʃən] n.解答；解决；溶解 (初中英语单词)
• sunlight [´sʌnlait] n.日光 (初中英语单词)
• wherever [weər´evə] conj.无论在哪里 (初中英语单词)
• decade [´dekeid] n.十年(间) (高中英语单词)
• laboratory [lə´bɔrətəri] n.实验室；研究室(所) (高中英语单词)
• veteran [´vetərən] n.老兵 a.老练的 (高中英语单词)
• potential [pə´tenʃəl] n.&a.潜在的；可能的 (高中英语单词)
• electricity [i,lek´trisiti] n.电；电学；电流 (高中英语单词)
• tremendously [tri´mendəsli] ad.可怕地；极大地 (英语四级单词)
• beaming [´bi:miŋ] a.笑吟吟的 (英语六级单词)
• antenna [æn´tenə] n.触角；天线 (英语六级单词)