Since we can send electromagnetic pulses from Earth to Spacecrafts out of the solar system and induce an electric current in their communication circuitry. Why can't we send more powerful pulses to induce more power to enable the working of the spacecraft besides communication.
How feasible is my proposal?
Max,
Beamed power is an old old idea.
Do you not remember the SPSS of the 70s? (I guess not...)
The plan to harvest solar power in high orbit, convert it to microwaves, and then beam those microwaves back to the Earth, was interesting.
And the idea was revived by Bob Forward's Starwisp proposal in the 80s.
There's nothing wrong with it except for:
a) The need for large emitters to reduce diffraction spread
b) The need for low-mass and efficient absorbers/converters (optical? microwave?)
It's an old trope to install laser arrays on Mercury and power solar sails to the nearby stars.
Perfectly doable - but to justify it you need deep solar missions - and I suggest that you look at the problem of providing even 1kW of power at Jupiter orbit from the Earth.
(calculate the beam spread for a plausible transmitter, and see how large your 'telescope/laser' needs to be)
It seems like it could be done. It may be better to look for sources of that power in space and not try to send more and more power through space.
Max,
Beamed power is an old old idea.
Do you not remember the SPSS of the 70s? (I guess not...)
The plan to harvest solar power in high orbit, convert it to microwaves, and then beam those microwaves back to the Earth, was interesting.
And the idea was revived by Bob Forward's Starwisp proposal in the 80s.
There's nothing wrong with it except for:
a) The need for large emitters to reduce diffraction spread
b) The need for low-mass and efficient absorbers/converters (optical? microwave?)
It's an old trope to install laser arrays on Mercury and power solar sails to the nearby stars.
Perfectly doable - but to justify it you need deep solar missions - and I suggest that you look at the problem of providing even 1kW of power at Jupiter orbit from the Earth.
(calculate the beam spread for a plausible transmitter, and see how large your 'telescope/laser' needs to be)
Or just use radioisotopes like Plutonium-238, like the Pioneers did for power. Still could be considered risky if a launch goes bad and don't give that much power (~100W).
Robert,
Cassini and other craft are managing very nicely on RTGs. But for seriously long duration missions I can imagine that beamed power is the way to go.
(but hey, I'm biased: designing and installing a few GW of optical laser power at Mercury's poles sounds like fun!)
@James,
must admit GW laser on Mercury does sound like fun. Also sounds like a plot for a future James Bond movie, if they drop into the wrong hands.
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