One-Gigawatt Producing Solar Power Station to be erected in Outer Space-

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, a leading manufacturer of solar panels, has joined forces with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to launch a $25 billion solar farm in outer space within the next three decades. The solar hub is to be positioned approximately 26,000 km above the earth’s surface, will contain four square kilometers of solar panels, and is projected to generate 1 gigawatt of solar energy – enough to power 294,000 standard Tokyo residences. Before the development is completed, JAXA will send a smaller solar powered satellite sometime in the year 2015 to assess beam energy concentration in space. The Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), a division of JAXA, has effectively engineered the 10-megawatt producing solar power satellite for trial analysis, and are now currently working on a tentative strategy which would employ a satellite to supply several hundred kilowatts of wireless power. Nevertheless, much more research and assessment is still required before the solar farm project can be fully secured to begin operations, especially as there are ongoing concerns of space debris and additional unforeseen consequences that must be considered when developing in vast, and often volatile, outer space.