Scientists have successfully demonstrated for the first time that solar power can be wirelessly transmitted in space and also beamed to Earth.

The space solar power prototype, dubbed Maple, is one of three key technologies being tested by the California Institute of Technology’s Space Solar Power Project (SSPP), which aims to harvest solar power in space and transmit it to the Earth’s surface.

Maple, short for Microwave Array for Power-transfer Low-orbit Experiment, consists of an array of flexible, lightweight microwave power transmitters, built using custom electronic chips, to beam the energy to desired locations.

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For successfully achieving its outcome, scientists said such energy transmission arrays need to be lightweight to minimise the amount of fuel needed to send them to space, and flexible so they can be folded up and transported in a rocket.

Read more: Independent