Space Solar Power Station Beams Energy to Ground for First Time: 50MW Delivered

On December 15, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced that its "Project Chasing Sun" space solar power station (SSPS) successfully completed its first large-scale power transmission. A solar collection array in geostationary orbit (36,000 km) transmitted 50 megawatts of power to the Bishan ground receiving station in Chongqing via microwave beam, achieving a transmission efficiency of 12.3%.

The core advantage of space solar power is immunity to day-night cycles and weather — in geostationary orbit, solar panels receive 5-10 times more solar energy annually than on the ground. The Chasing Sun array covers 2 square kilometers, composed of thousands of deployable thin-film solar units.

"50 megawatts is a milestone, but our target is gigawatt-scale transmission by 2030. At that point, a single space power station could supply a mid-sized city," said Yang Shizhong, Chinese Academy of Engineering院士 and chief designer of Project Chasing Sun.

Microwave transmission safety is the public's primary concern. The team explains that transmission power density is controlled to one-tenth of safety standards, with an automatic shutoff mechanism — if the microwave beam deviates from the receiving antenna by more than 0.1 degrees, the system cuts transmission within 50 milliseconds.

Space solar power remains expensive — Project Chasing Sun has累计 invested over 20 billion yuan. However, with reusable rocket technology maturing, launch costs are dropping rapidly. SpaceX's Starship has reduced per-kilogram payload costs to about $200, just one-tenth of five years ago.

Japan and Europe are also advancing their own space solar power programs. Japan's JAXA aims for commercial SSPS operation by 2030.