Forget smartphone charging. When it comes to next-generation wireless power, engineers in Japan are working on a system that can send large amounts of electrical power over considerable distances.

Behind several prototypes and projects is a common idea: the ability to send power from the sky to the ground.

The eventual goal of the research is a huge space-based solar array that isn’t affected by Earth’s weather systems and constantly collects large amounts of energy, which is then sent down to receivers on Earth via microwave.

By that goal, today’s prototypes are much more modest but still easily outgun the sort of wireless charging systems that you can buy for smartphones and other gadgets.

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