Posted on 10/08/2025 8:19:14 AM PDT by delta7
China’s audacious orbital energy station showcases high-tech ambition—powered by sun and silver—positioning the nation as a leader in the next era of global energy innovation.
China isn’t just aiming for the stars—it’s building them. The country’s bold leap into the future comes in the form of a one-kilometer-wide solar power station, launched into geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometers above the Earth. This is not some sci-fi proposal, but an ambitious, state-led drive epitomizing China’s technological swagger and strategic focus.
Daylight Never Stops: Power From the Void
Picture a solar array so massive and advanced, it basks in the sun’s full intensity 24 hours a day, above clouds, storms, and night. This mile-high marvel collects and beams solar power as undiluted microwaves to receivers on Earth—making energy blackouts or weather interruptions relics of the past. For China, this is the logical next step in national ingenuity: harnessing infinite daylight, from the silence of orbit.
Engineering Roars—But It’s Silver That Sings
What really powers this leap? Silver—the world’s elemental conductor—forms the backbone of every solar cell, wire, and high-efficiency circuit packed into this orbital behemoth. Using the industry metric of 700,000 ounces of silver per gigawatt of solar capacity, estimates for this single space station run from about 150,000 ounces (at basic delivered capacity) to over 1,000,000 ounces for a state-of-the-art, maximum-output installation. Realistically, the project’s current specifications point to nearly 300,000 ounces of silver just for the solar hardware—a demand echoing across global silver markets
China Sets the Pace, the World Watches
Unlike Earth’s fragmented energy sectors, China’s state-driven coordination cuts through barriers, accelerating the move from lab prototypes to cosmic-scale reality. While other nations debate and pilot, Beijing welds, launches, and delivers—increasing its stake in the future of energy, and in the complex logistics of industrial metals like silver.
The Silver Age of Energy
This isn’t about replacing oil overnight—the global economy still leans heavily on hydrocarbons. But as a display of technical prowess, policy cohesion, and resource strategy, China’s move is drawing a new map of energy and metals demand. As the world watches, a new era of solar power—one literally built on silver—rises in Earth’s orbit.
China’s orbital gamble proves that tomorrow’s energy superpowers won’t just own oilfields and reactors—they’ll command sunlight, silicon, and metals like silver, at a planetary scale. The future is bright, and its backbone just might be 36,000 kilometers above our heads.
Not even enough for a Flux Capacitor
“The steam plant was designed for 28.72% gross efficiency”
WIKI (link lost by me)
About as efficient as solar panels, which probably require less maintenance.
If the heliostats were fitted with solar panels, the panels could be optimally pointed at the sun.
“the Chinese mentioned but are mum about “
If they mentioned it then they weren’t mum about it.
There’s no oxygen in space, so I suspect aluminum be used instead.
Or they could rip the whole wretched thing out and leave the land to the chuckwallas and the kangaroo rats ...
And we have no national energy plan or policy or even ideas at all. We just wander from liberal to conservative driven by money, politics and emotion.
“Unlike Earth’s fragmented energy sectors, China’s state-driven coordination cuts through barriers, accelerating the move from lab prototypes to cosmic-scale reality. While other nations debate and pilot, Beijing welds, launches, and delivers—increasing its stake in the future of energy, and in the complex logistics of industrial metals like silver. “
We have only some want but none of the will to be bold, lead and succeed.
That said, who wants to be near the location where all of this power lands?
On South Uncanoonuc Mountain in Goffstown, NH there are half a dozen cell towers and the broadcast tower for WMUR. THe ABC station out of Manchester, NH.
I drove up to the top a couple weeks ago. It is only about 1400’ high, but it is the highest spot around the area.
There are also four small houses up there.
Two of them are rented on AirBnB because of the cool location.
HOWEVER, as I got to the top my radio station stopped coming in because of all the radio waves/interference. My wife brought up the fact that these four houses must be constantly bombarded by these coming from the cell towers.
Look it up on Google maps South Uncanoonuc, Goffstown, NH
All that silver leaving the confines of this planet. Bad karma.
YAWN,,, WOW CCP using solar power on the tiny space station big deal.. ours has been doing that sense 1998
Sigh so much scientific illiteracy.
Nothing is getting fired or even b barely heated up the energy density at ground level is 1/3 to 1/10 that of sunlight. The reason it can be low and has to be based on the size of the transmitting antenna 36,000km away even a ten km wide transmission antenna is putting out a 100km wide ground spot. It’s roughly ten to one at 2-3ghz
Microwaves at 2-3 ghz are not ionizing they cannot cause cancer at 100watts per meter square. Your cellphone transmits at these so does your Wi-Fi network.
https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2012/03/space-based-solar-power/
GSO orbit has 24/7 sunlight above the atmo, except for when the earth’s tilt relative to the ecliptic near the equinoxes puts the earth between the GSO sat and the sun for 70-80 minutes per day for about a month that centers on the equinoxes the eclipses start at a few min and each day once per day get longer until at the equinoxes they are 70 min long then they get smaller again. The solution is space your solar birds 20 degrees apart this ensures that each GSO sat is 80 minutes of the surreal day apart and no two can be in an eclipse at the same time even in the equinoxes. Thus a country like China that’s 60 degrees wide can have 3 GSO directly over it’s territory and at least two more twenty degrees east and west of it’s limits from GSO altitude 20 degrees off of zenith is still very much above the horizon in the 20-45degrees North latitude range.
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