OHISAMA’s Orbital Experiment: A Technical Milestone, Not a Climate Solution Japan’s OHISAMA satellite —expected to launch in 2025—will conduct the first end-to-end test of space-to-Earth wireless power transmission . But its true aim is lunar infrastructure , not climate salvation. Later this year, Japan is expected to launch OHISAMA —a compact, 180-kilogram satellite roughly the size of a household washing machine—in what would be the first verified demonstration of wireless solar power transmission from low Earth orbit to a ground station on Earth . Developed under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and executed by Japan Space Systems , the mission builds on decades of Japanese research into space-based solar power (SBSP), including JAXA ’s 2015 ground test that beamed 1.8 kW over 50 meters and Mitsubishi ’s 10 kW transmission over 500 meters. OHISAMA will deploy a 2-square-meter photovoltaic array to charge an onboard battery, then conver...
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