Space power by ground-based laser transmission

Conference · Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1992

OSTI ID:6983679

Landis, G A ^[1]

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1. Sverdrup Technology, Inc. (United States) NASA, Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, OH (United States)

A new method for providing power to space vehicles consists of using high-power CW lasers on the ground to beam power to photovoltaic receivers in space. Such large lasers could be located at cloud-free sites at one or more ground locations, and use large mirrors with adaptive optical correction to reduce the beam spread due to diffraction or atmospheric turbulence. This can result in lower requirements for battery storage, due to continuous illumination of arrays even during periods of shadow by the earth, and higher power output, due to the higher efficiency of photovoltaic arrays under laser illumination compared to solar and the ability to achieve higher intensities of illumination. Applications include providing power for satellites during eclipse, providing power to resurrect satellites which are failing due to solar array degradation, powering orbital transfer vehicles or lunar transfer shuttles, and providing night power to a solar array on the moon. 22 refs.

• Research Organization: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Cleveland, OH (United States). Lewis Research Center
• OSTI ID: 6983679
• Report Number(s): AIAA-Paper-92-3024; CONF-9207111-
• Resource Relation: Conference: 23. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) plasma dynamics and lasers conference, Nashville, TN (United States), 6-8 Jul 1992
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
LASER RADIATION
ENERGY CONVERSION
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
IRRADIATION
SPACECRAFT POWER SUPPLIES
GALLIUM ARSENIDES
LASERS
MOON
NIGHT SKY
ORBITS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CONVERSION
PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER SUPPLIES
SATELLITES
SPACE SHUTTLES
SPACE VEHICLES
AIRCRAFT
ARSENIC COMPOUNDS
ARSENIDES
CONVERSION
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
GALLIUM COMPOUNDS
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PNICTIDES
POWER SUPPLIES
RADIATIONS
SKY
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
VEHICLES
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems
140600* - Solar Energy- Photovoltaic Power Systems