China is looking to build ginormous miles-wide 'megastructures' in space including solar power plants, tourism complexes, gas stations and even a facility to mine ASTEROIDS
China is planning to build miles-wide 'megastructures' in orbit, including solar power plants, tourism complexes, gas stations and even asteroid mining facilities.
The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) announced a new five-year plan, directing researchers to develop technologies and techniques.
The structures will require lightweight materials to allow larger objects to get into orbit with existing rockets. Researchers will also need to adopt technology to allow for in-orbit assembly and control.The Chinese government said there is an 'urgent need' for megaprojects in space that would require ultra-large spacecraft to keep them in orbit.
The first project of this type will be a solar power station in high orbit, that will be about a mile wide and 'beam' electricity back to a base station in China to feed into the grid by 2035. Increasing to a megawatt of electricity by 2050.
Other projects could include new massive orbital platforms covering miles of space, dwarfing the International Space Station which is just 350ft across. Source
No comments:
Post a Comment