International scientists, including a team from Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, has announced plans to develop a revolutionary new way of harvesting solar energy in space. The new technology would directly convert sunlight into laser beams, facilitating the transmission of power over vast distances such as between satellites, from satellites to lunar bases, or even back to Earth. Their approach is inspired by the way bacteria and other plants and organisms convert light energy into chemical energy - a process known as photosynthesis. Repurposing natural photosynthetic structures from nature will form a key component in the new laser technology.