Last month, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory started an exciting project to try out a new idea for generating power in space. They're calling it the Space Wireless Energy Laser Link, or SWELL for short.

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The SWELL project has developed a system that includes laser transmitters and special receivers. This system can take sunlight in space and turn it into energy. This energy can then be sent to satellites, space stations, or even back to Earth or the Moon.

Why do this in space? Well, it turns out you can get about 10 times more energy from sunlight in space than on Earth because Earth's atmosphere weakens the Sun's energy.

This system was recently sent to space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for live testing. What's really cool about this is that it could end the need for wires in solar power systems for places like the Moon or Mars. Instead of having solar panels on the ground and sending the power through wires, the SWELL system can get the power in space and beam it wirelessly to where it's needed.

This system could also be used to send power back to Earth, but there's a small problem. The energy would have to go through Earth's atmosphere, which would cause some of it to be lost. So, it might not be as effective.

Even so, it's exciting to see this kind of thing being tested. It's almost certain to work, but we still need to figure out how efficient it is and whether it makes economic sense.

However, we need to be careful. These laser transmitters could be used as weapons. If you can send energy around, you could also cause a lot of damage. That's why this project is being watched over by the U.S. Department of Defense.

But let's look on the bright side. It's fantastic to see big challenges like this being tackled. This technology is using the Sun's energy to create clean power.

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