TY - JOUR
T1 - Wireless power transfer in space using flexible, lightweight, coherent arrays
AU - Ayling, Alex
AU - Fikes, Austin
AU - Mizrahi, Oren S.
AU - Wu, Ailec
AU - Riazati, Raha
AU - Brunet, Jesse
AU - Abiri, Behrooz
AU - Bohn, Florian
AU - Gal-Katziri, Matan
AU - Hashemi, Mohammed Reza M.
AU - Padmanabhan, Sharmila
AU - Russell, Damon
AU - Hajimiri, Ali
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 IAA
PY - 2024/11/1
Y1 - 2024/11/1
N2 - Space solar power (SSP), envisioned for decades as a solution for continuous, stable, and dynamically dispatchable clean energy, has seen tremendous interest and a number of experimental demonstrations in the last few years. A practical implementation has been elusive to date, owing to the high launch costs associated with heavy, rigid photovoltaic and wireless power transfer (WPT) arrays. Lightweight and flexible solutions for WPT have been demonstrated terrestrially but, to date, have not been deployed and tested in space. In this paper, we present an experimental space demonstration of a lightweight, flexible WPT array powered by custom radio-frequency integrated circuits. The transmit arrays, receive arrays, and the rest of the system were operated and tested for eight months in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Results from these experiments, including pointing of the array's beam to Earth and its detection by a ground station, are presented and discussed in detail. Observations and results from this mission uncover existing strengths and weaknesses that inform future steps towards realizing SSP.
AB - Space solar power (SSP), envisioned for decades as a solution for continuous, stable, and dynamically dispatchable clean energy, has seen tremendous interest and a number of experimental demonstrations in the last few years. A practical implementation has been elusive to date, owing to the high launch costs associated with heavy, rigid photovoltaic and wireless power transfer (WPT) arrays. Lightweight and flexible solutions for WPT have been demonstrated terrestrially but, to date, have not been deployed and tested in space. In this paper, we present an experimental space demonstration of a lightweight, flexible WPT array powered by custom radio-frequency integrated circuits. The transmit arrays, receive arrays, and the rest of the system were operated and tested for eight months in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Results from these experiments, including pointing of the array's beam to Earth and its detection by a ground station, are presented and discussed in detail. Observations and results from this mission uncover existing strengths and weaknesses that inform future steps towards realizing SSP.
KW - Flexible phased array
KW - Low Earth orbit
KW - Microwave communication
KW - Radio frequency integrated circuit
KW - Space solar power
KW - Wireless power transfer
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85201630422&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2024.08.006
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2024.08.006
M3 - Article
SN - 0094-5765
VL - 224
SP - 226
EP - 243
JO - Acta Astronautica
JF - Acta Astronautica
ER -