Cal Institute of Technology has some big news on space energy. Researchers at the university reportedly transmitted solar energy from space to Earth for the first time without a single cable.

The experiment is part of the California Institute of Technology’s Space Solar Project, and the institute announced the successful transmission in a press release yesterday. The researchers conducted the microwave array energy transfer experiment for the Low Orbital Energy Transfer Experiment, or MAPLE, a small prototype on the Space Orbiting Solar Energy Demonstrator (SSPD-1), launched in January of this year.

For the first time, the researchers say the MAPLE transmitter array has successfully beamed solar energy collected in space using microwaves to a receiver on the roof of the Gordon and Betty Moore Engineering Laboratory at the Caltech Pasadena campus.

“Through our experiments so far, we have confirmed that MAPLE can successfully transmit power to receivers in space,” Ali Hajimiri, co-director of the Space Solar Energy Project, said in a press release. Said. “We’ve also been able to program the grid to direct its energy to Earth, which we discovered here at the Cal Institute of Technology. We’ve of course tested it on Earth, but now we know it can survive a trip into space and work there.”

Attached to Momentus Space’s Vigoride space tug, the SSPD-1 consists of two panels used to harvest solar energy. A series of transmitters in MAPLE send this energy over a distance using constructive and destructive interference. Located about a foot from the transmitter, the MAPLE has two receivers that collect solar energy and convert it to direct current, which is used to light the two LEDs inside the MAPLE in the experiment. By varying the transmissions between the receivers, the researchers were able to light one LED at a time, demonstrating the sensitivity of the array. MAPLE also has a window that allows the transmitters to transmit energy to a target outside the spacecraft, such as Earth.

“Just as the Internet democratizes access to information, we hope wireless power transmission will democratize access to energy,” Hajimiri said in a statement. “There is no need for any energy transmission infrastructure to deliver this power to the ground. This means we can send forces to remote areas and areas devastated by war or natural disaster.”

The ability to wirelessly transmit solar energy from space has such huge implications for renewable energy that Japan plans to start using it in the mid-2030s. A Japanese research group plans to pilot the technology through a public-private partnership in 2025.

As humanity’s energy needs increase, a powerful solution such as space-based solar energy harvesting and transmission could be a big step in the right direction. Space-based electricity harvesting can operate 24 hours a day, while land-based solar harvesting can shut down at night and transmit power to remote or disaster areas if they have the necessary infrastructure.