We just beamed power from space to Earth. 🛰️⚡ Solar panels on Earth have one massive flaw: Night time. The atmosphere reflects and absorbs a huge chunk of the sun’s energy, and obviously, half the planet is in darkness at any given moment. But in space? The sun never sets. (Okay never sets for 99% of the year!!) For decades, engineers have chased the dream of Space-Based Solar Power. They want to harvest clean energy in orbit and beam it down wirelessly. It’s no longer just sci-fi. Caltech has officially proved it’s possible. Their prototype, MAPLE, successfully collected solar energy in orbit and beamed it to a receiver on a rooftop in Pasadena. The real breakthrough isn’t the solar panel. It’s the transmission. They used a Phased Array Antenna. Instead of using heavy, breakable mechanical motors to physically aim the beam at Earth, they use physics. By delaying the signal between different antennas by mere milliseconds, they can steer the microwave beam electronically using ...