NASA Invests in Satellites That Beam Power Down to Earth

It would consist of a modular array of movable thin film mirrors, which could be taken into space using current cargo ships and assembled piece by piece. This would be less expensive than building a gigantic array and launching it. These curved mirrors would redirect sunlight toward an internal collection of photovoltaic panels, and the solar energy would be converted into microwaves. Then the Earth facing portion, or the bottom of the margarita glass in the image at top, would transmit low frequency, low intensity waves toward Earth. At the receiving end, power plants would convert the microwave energy into electricity, adding it to the power grid.