Two months ago, we told you about Baiju Bhatt, one of the co-founders of the investing app Robinhood, who launched a new company called Aetherflux. This startup has a bold plan: to create a network of satellites in space that can send power back to Earth using powerful lasers. Sounds like science fiction, right? But it could change how we get and use energy—especially in hard-to-reach places.
The idea of space solar power isn’t new. Back in 1941, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov first imagined harnessing the sun’s energy from space. In the 1970s, NASA even experimented with this idea, but their plan required huge and expensive structures in space that didn’t work out. The challenge? Sending power from space to Earth was tricky and expensive. But the idea still holds promise—space has sunlight all day, every day, and weather doesn’t get in the way.
Now, Aetherflux believes that space-based solar power can become a reality. If they succeed, it could provide power to remote places like military bases, small islands, or areas hit by natural disasters where it’s difficult or dangerous to build power lines. This could unlock new possibilities for energy use and make life easier for people living in tough conditions.
But there’s a twist. While the U.S. is catching up, China is racing ahead in this futuristic energy race. China plans to build its own massive space solar power system by 2030. This system would be the largest human-made object in space! And that’s not all—China is also winning the global race for another groundbreaking energy technology: nuclear fusion.
In fact, China has invested a huge amount of money—about $1.5 billion a year—into nuclear fusion, which is a way to create energy just like the sun does. While the U.S. spends only $800 million annually, China is making rapid progress. In the past decade, China has surpassed the U.S. in the number of fusion patents, and one little-known Chinese company, Energy Singularity, is breaking records. It’s completed a critical milestone in building a smaller, faster fusion reactor that no one thought was possible. This could give China a huge advantage in the race to create clean, limitless energy.
Why does this matter? Energy is a huge deal—it makes up about 10% of the global economy. Whoever controls energy technology could control a market worth trillions of dollars. If China wins the race in space solar power and fusion, they could dominate the future of energy. And that could mean the U.S. has to play catch-up.
In short, China is taking huge strides in energy technology, and the U.S. might need to act quickly if it doesn’t want to be left behind. Will the U.S. rise to the challenge, or will China take the lead in shaping the future of global energy?
