At present, many houses and offices run on solar energy. And now it seems like it’s time for Earth to run on solar energy. Japan’s leading engineering firm Shimizu Corporation has planned to build an array of solar cells around the Moon’s equator in order to harvest solar energy and beam it back to Earth. The project is called Luna Ring.
Tokyo-based Shimizu Corporation wants to lay a belt of solar panels around the equator of our orbiting neighbour and then relay the constant supply of energy to “receiving stations” on Earth by way of lasers or microwave transmission. The belt of solar panels around the Moon’s equator will be 250 miles wide and 6,800 miles long.
The solar panels will be set up in such a way that they will “generate a continuous stream of power from the side of the Moon that’s always facing the Sun, and beam it down to Earth from the side that’s in shadow.” The Luna Ring project will be able to send 13,000 terawatts of power to Earth constantly.
Shimizu Corporation has iterated on its site, “A shift from economical use of limited resources to the unlimited use of clean energy is the ultimate dream of mankind. The Luna Ring … translates this dream into reality through ingenious ideas coupled with advanced space technologies.”
The company hasn’t revealed the cost for building 250 mile wide array of solar cells around the Moon’s equator. But the company hopes that it will be able to start construction by 2035. The company will develop robots and automated equipment to mine the Moon’s natural resources and produce concrete and the solar cells required for the mission.
Source: Shimizu Corporation
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