Key Takeaways :

  • Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, commonly known to have presented the concept of transferring the solar power from space to Earth for the first time, believed the motivation for space exploration is the “pursuit of energy”, not the “conquest of planets”. No other renewable energy source is comparable—in terms of available power—to the Sun.
  • Solar Power Satellite (SPS) is a huge satellite of a few km and of over 10,000 tons with solar cells and wireless power transfer unit in geosynchronous equatorial orbit. The generated electricity of over 1 GW in the solar cells—about the same output as a typical nuclear power plant.
  • Japan has a particular interest in finding alternative clean energy sources, especially after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011, and taking into account the lack of surface for renewable power plants installations and in response to the demand for realising low-carbon society on the global scale.

“Men are weak now, and yet they transform the Earth’s surface. In millions of years their might will increase to the extent that they will change the surface of the Earth, its oceans, the atmosphere and themselves. They will control the climate and the solar system just as they control the Earth. They will travel beyond the limits of our planetary system; they will reach other Suns and use their fresh energy instead of the energy of their dying luminary” – Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, 1857–1935

Historical overview

In the course of his lifetime, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, published over 160 works predominantly on the topic of technosphere, which he describes as “a set of industrial, transportation […]