Chinese scientists have for the first time irradiated several summer airborne targets moving in the air with a microwave beam.

Solar energy from space – a new phase of testing

1. Why orbital solar power is relevant
Work continues in China and other countries on the possibility of harvesting solar energy in Earth orbit and transmitting it to ground consumers.

- Growing interest: the development of “orbital data centers” (ODCs) and the launch of more powerful satellites increase demand for a stable source of energy in space.
- Potential users: the harvested energy could power individual satellites as well as server stations working on cloud computing.

2. A Chinese university group makes a breakthrough
Scientists from Xi’an University became the first worldwide team to simultaneously transmit microwave energy to several moving targets.

- Infrastructure: in 2022 a special 75‑m tower was built for experiments with wireless power transfer.
- Preparation for orbital launch: before sending the technology into orbit, researchers practiced its components on ground sites and at low altitudes. Future plans include testing on balloons and aircraft, gradually improving beam pointing accuracy.

3. Results of the latest experiment – Power transmission
The system transmitted 1,180 W over a distance of about 100 m while maintaining the microwave beam with the required precision.

- Efficiency: overall transfer efficiency was 20.8 %.
- UAV: a drone flying at 30 km/h received stable power of 143 W already at an altitude of roughly 30 m.

Until now no similar demonstrations have taken place worldwide. In the United States such tests were conducted either in laboratory conditions or on stationary sites, and during airborne or orbital launches the beam was heavily defocused and operated at the sensitivity limits of receivers.

4. A new view on an orbital solar station
The university group revisited the concept of the OMEGA station:

For terrestrial infrastructure this approach will be safer: in case of unforeseen circumstances the loss of energy will not lead to serious consequences.

Conclusion

Chinese experiments open the way to a practical implementation of wireless transmission of solar energy from space. The next steps include higher‑altitude tests on airborne platforms and, ultimately, launching systems into orbit to provide reliable power for satellites and ground data centers.