In the past five years, microwave technology has rapidly evolved to a critical threshold where ultra‐energetic space launch missions based on beamed energy propulsion (BEP) now appear eminently feasible. Over the next 20 years, hundred megawatt‐class microwave power‐beaming stations could be prototyped on high deserts and 3‐ to 4‐km mountain peaks before migrating into low Earth orbit—along with their passive microwave relay satellites. Described herein is a 20 GW rechargeable solar photovoltaic power satellite and microwave power‐beaming infrastructure designed for manned space launch operations in the year 2025. The technological readiness of 2500 GJ superconducting magnetic energy storage “batteries,” 1‐km diameter ultralight “bicycle wheel” structures, and mega‐scale integrated solid‐state microwave transmitters arrays are addressed. Typical ascent‐to‐orbit trajectories for a representative 20‐m diameter, 6‐ to 12‐person microwave lightcraft are examined, along with the powersat power‐beaming dynamics. Microwave BEP is ‘break‐through’ technology with the very real potential to radically reduce the cost of space access in the forseeable future by factors of 100 to 1000.
Microwave Power Beaming Infrastructure for Manned Lightcraft Operations
BEAMED ENERGY PROPULSION: Fourth International Symposium on Beamed Energy Propulsion ; 2005 ; Nara (Japan)
AIP Conference Proceedings ; 830 , 1 ; 651-662
2006-05-02
12 pages
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
Microwave Power Beaming Infrastructure for Manned Lightcraft Operations
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