A Japanese engineering firm has revealed plans to turn the moon into a giant solar farm – and beam electricity to earth using lasers.
Shimizu’s unusual plan would create a 400km wide, 11,000km long grid of solar panels running the length of the lunar equator.
Robots would build the array, which would convert solar energy into microwaves, which 20KM wide transmitters would beam at the earth. where receivers would convert it back into electricity for the national grid.
The system would also use lasers to send electricity to the earth, with the beams focused by lenses and mirrors onto photoelectric conversion systems.
Positioning the belt along the equator would give the panels almost constant exposure to sunlight.
The plan, which the Tokyo-based firm believes could produce up to 13,000 terrawatts of electricity – more than three times the entire electricity output of the USA – is planned for the pilot stage by 2020.
Shimizu has yet to put a pricetag on the project, which has received renewed interest in the wake of Japan’s post-Fukushima energy crisis.