SpaceWar.com reports: “China’s recent retrieval of the first-ever samples from the far side of the moon has renewed talks about the possibilities of the United States and China joining in space-based research programs aimed at addressing global challenges, particularly climate change.

‘The US and China each have very innovative space programs, and one area, for example, where the US and China could work together today would be space-based solar,’ Daniel Kammen, a professor of energy at the University of California, Berkeley, and founding director of the university’s Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, told China Daily.

Space-based solar power, a concept involving the collection of solar energy in outer space via satellites and its distribution to Earth, has been gaining traction globally. As countries worldwide invest in research and development for the technology, international organizations are simultaneously pushing for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The decreasing costs associated with launching materials into space have made the idea of deploying large solar panels – which beam power back to Earth using microwaves – increasingly feasible.

Kammen suggested that the US and China could challenge each other to collaborate on making space-based solar a reality…”