Japan Leads Space Race

May 28, 2026

(This is the second of three newsletters about the impending Space Age, which will transform human existence, energy, economics, and geopolitics.)

The space race is not about who plants a flag on what planet first. It’s actually about the future of life on Earth. The safe splashdown in April of the Artemis II crew after its successful NASA Moon mission validated that life-support, communication, and navigation systems with astronauts on board can pave the way for sustainable lunar exploration. Elon Musk’s SpaceX hopes to build orbital data centres for AI computing by 2028, to power AI processing/computing capacity for use on Earth. However, Japan’s OHISHAMA Project is actually ahead of the U.S. It is soon launching the first solar power station satellite into orbit that will capture and transmit solar power to a receiving site on Earth for conversion into usable electricity. If scaled, by also building gigantic solar farms on the Moon, space-based solar power could replace fossil fuels, dams, and massive nuclear plants, drastically cutting greenhouse gas emissions while providing clean, global energy distribution.

Japan to launch solar power station satellite. OHISAMA Project

The Japanese demonstration satellite will generate only one kilowatt of power, but it will prove that solar energy can be transmitted, via microwaves, directly from space to ground-based antennas, then converted into electricity. This will be revolutionary. Wind and nuclear power have limited potential, fossil fuels pollute, and solar parks are not a solution. They devour large tracts of land, and access to sunlight on Earth is limited by clouds and weather. But Silicon Valley has lowered the cost of rocketry, making it possible to build a space-based energy industry.

Japan’s 180-kilogram spacecraft will carry photovoltaic panels and wireless power transmission equipment into a roughly 400-kilometre orbit. Its purpose is to prove that solar can be beamed accurately, safely, and efficiently to a ground-based receiving antenna and converted immediately into usable power. If successful, this will eventually lead to commercial-scale orbital stations in space or giant solar farms on the Moon that can provide power, unaffected by weather. One kilowatt would barely supply one household, but success would unlock an energy revolution that could transform existence.

Space-based solar power addresses the central constraint of modern civilization: energy abundance without environmental collapse. Every major problem—climate change, water scarcity, industrial decarbonization, data centers, artificial intelligence, desalination, even space exploration itself—ultimately boils down to energy availability.

Japan, the “land of the rising sun” has no fossil fuels or uranium

Japan has worked on space-based solar power for decades, not as an experiment but as a strategic national objective. The country’s 2008 Basic Space Law identified space solar power as part of Japan’s long-term energy security strategy. In a nation poor in fossil fuels, traumatized by nuclear accidents, and dependent on imported energy, the imperative is obvious. But the implications extend far beyond Japan.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory is also experimenting and has tested a similar form of solar power generation in space, with limited success. But Japan is well advanced and is evolving other far-reaching concepts that read like science fiction. For instance, one such project is called “Luna Ring”, conceived by Shimizu Corporation to build a vast belt of solar panels around the Moon’s equator, some 11,000 kilometers away. The Moon is ideal for power transfer because it has no atmosphere and long periods of uninterrupted sunlight. Energy captured in this way would be transmitted back to Earth via microwaves or lasers. This is not a funded project and won’t be feasible for a decade or more. But the importance of this scheme is that Japan thinks big and is pursuing a space-based solar power revolution to provide clean energy forever.

Lunar Ring project, solar panels on the Moon

Japanese researchers have already demonstrated wireless power transmission in laboratories and in controlled field experiments. OHISAMA takes the final step that matters: proving it works from a moving satellite in orbit. Its success would be profound, and once power can be reliably transmitted from space to Earth, then gigawatt-scale solar power stations can be built and launched into orbit or built on the Moon, delivering electricity around the clock to designated regions on Earth.

Space-based solar power does not replace wind farms, fossil fuels, or hydro dams; it leapfrogs them. Sunlight in space is far more intense than at the Earth’s surface, uninterrupted by atmospheric scattering. Unlike land-based solar farms, orbital systems do not compete for land, water, or local acceptance. Unlike nuclear plants, they cannot melt down. Unlike fossil fuels, they emit nothing. Once in place, their fuel—the sun—is free and infinite on human timescales.

“Japan is putting efforts into acquiring its own solar energy as presently 90 per cent of its energy is imported,” wrote AI News. “The urgency is driven by the tragic Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011. Generating solar energy on land is challenging for Japan, as it has a high urban population concentration. With orbital solar collectors come the solutions that are reliable, renewable, and scalable nuclear alternatives.”

If Japan’s demonstration satellite is successful, it will revolutionize clean energy. Both the United States and China are watching with great interest and have similar projects on the drawing boards. But “the Land of the Rising Sun” is currently in the lead.

(Next: On June 1, “Geopolitics and Space”)