ESA is laying the groundwork for the development of satellite technology designed to harvest the Sun's energy in space before transmitting it wirelessly to receiving stations on Earth.
The initiative, named SOLARIS, raises the tantalising prospect of clean, scalable energy beamed down continuously from orbit to back up weather-dependent renewables and eliminate reliance on fossil fuels.
Through SOLARIS, ESA is bringing together policymakers, energy suppliers and space companies to investigate the feasibility of developing and implementing space-based solar power. This is intended to enable Europe to make an informed decision by the end of 2025 on proceeding with a development programme dedicated to the technology.