Solar Power From Space, Tesla Misses Expectations And New EVs For 2023

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In the 1941 short story “Reason,” science fiction author Isaac Asimov described a future where electricity was generated in space and then beamed down to Earth¹. It took nearly three decades for engineers to first describe a workable way to potentially make such an orbiting power plant work. This week, nearly 50 years after that first engineering proposal and over 80 years after the short story, CalTech has made a big step in making that science-fiction idea a reality: on Tuesday, its experimental orbiting solar power satellite was launched into orbit. The project is backed by over $100 million in donations from real estate billionaire Donald Bren.

This prototype satellite will be able to begin its first tests within a few weeks. It consists of a test modular component that could be the basis for building larger solar power plants in orbit, 32 different types of photovoltaic cells to test what type might be best to use in space and a microwave array to test beaming power to the Earth’s surface. If the technology pans out, it could help deal with one of the major limitations of solar power: in orbit, you can arrange things so that it’s rarely ever night time. .

“No matter what happens, this prototype is a major step forward,” Ali Hajimiri, a co-director of the project, said in a press release. “It works here on Earth, and has passed the rigorous steps required of anything launched into space. There are still many risks, but having gone through the whole process has taught us valuable lessons. We believe the space experiments will provide us with plenty of additional useful information that will guide the project as we continue to move forward.”

¹ _{In the story, the robots who maintained that power station also ended up developing a religion in which they worshiped it, so keep an eye on ChatGPT’s spiritual proclivities once its training data grows to include information about the project’s successful launch.}

The Big Read

Renewable Energies Saw A $500 Billion Boom In Government Investment In 2022

The International Energy Agency reported that global government spending to support clean energy increased by over $500 billion since March and a plethora of policies emerged to cut reliance on fossil fuels.

Read more here.

Discoveries And Innovations

The USDA has granted a conditional license for a vaccine developed by Dalan Animal Health, which helps prevent American Foulbrood disease in honeybees.

Family farms around the country have started to use food waste to generate electricity for their operations.

A real estate development in Florida contains 86 homes that can stay powered for weeks even if they’re cut off from the grid thanks to solar power and good engineering.