On 14 April 2003 at the Communications Research Center (CRC) in Ottawa, Ontario, a 5.85‐GHz transmitter beamed 3‐kW of microwave power to a remote rectifying antenna (i.e., rectenna) that delivered 6‐kV to a special ‘Ion‐Breeze’ Engine (IBE). Three of CRC’s 26.5‐cm by 31‐cm rectennas were connected in series to provide the ∼6‐kV output. RPI’s low‐voltage IBE thrusters performed well in a “world’s first” power‐beaming demonstration with rectennas and endoatmospheric ion‐propulsion engines. The successful tests were a low‐tech, proof‐of‐concept demonstration for the future full‐sized MicroWave Lightcraft (MWLC) and its air breathing ‘loiter’ propulsion mode. Additional IBE experiments investigated the feasibility of producing flight control forces on the MWLC. The objective was to torque the charged hull for ‘pitch’ or ‘roll’ maneuvers. The torquing demonstration was entirely successful.
6 GHz Microwave Power‐Beaming Demonstration with 6‐kV Rectenna and Ion‐Breeze Thruster
BEAMED ENERGY PROPULSION: Second International Symposium on Beamed Energy Propulsion ; 2003 ; Sendai (JAPAN)
AIP Conference Proceedings ; 702 , 1 ; 430-444
2004-03-30
15 pages
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
Microwave Power-Beaming Demonstration with 6-kV Rectenna and Ion-Breeze Thruster
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