I guess when you’re a small country it pays to think big.

Japan is aiming to collect solar power in space and zap it down to Earth using laser beams or microwaves.

It involves an array of photovoltaic dishes, reaching across several square miles, that hover in geostationary orbit outside the Earth’s atmosphere.

The solar cells would capture the sun’s energy, which is at least five times stronger in space than on Earth, and beam it down to the ground through clusters of lasers or microwaves.

It’s not a new idea, solar power satellite have been on the drawing boards at least since the 1970’s, what’s new is seeing a major economic power commit to exploring the idea. It’s understandable why japan would like to do it, though. They’ve always had to depend on imports for energy, a series of solar power satellites would go a long way towards making Japan self-sufficient.