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  • Rocket Experiment on Microwave Power Transmission with Furoshiki Deployment

    Paper number

    IAC-06-C3.3.03

    Author

    Dr. Nobuyuki Kaya, Kobe University, Japan

    Coauthor

    Mr. Masashi Iwashita, Kobe University, Japan

    Coauthor

    Mr. Kouhei Tanaka, Kobe University, Japan

    Coauthor

    Prof. Shinichi Nakasuka, University of Tokyo, Japan

    Coauthor

    Dr. Leopold Summerer, European Space Agency (ESA)/ESTEC, The Netherlands

    Year

    2006

    Abstract
    We believe nothing is more effective for the development of the microwave power transmission technology than to operate step-by-step experiments and thus to accumulate critical data. We succeeded in the two rocket experiments called by MINIX in 1983 and ISY-METS in 1993 of the ISY year, and the three demonstrations called by MILAX in 1992, Kansai-demo in 1994 and ETHER in 1995. The objectives of the rocket experiments are to study nonlinear interactions of the microwave power beam in the space plasma environment and to demonstrate the power transmission in space. We succeeded in the demonstration of the microwave power transmission using a model airplane. We also performed a point-to-point microwave power transmission demonstration (Kansai-demo) for ground use, and the power transmission demonstration toward a small airship for the future stratospheric platforms.
    We are planning the next demonstration of the microwave power transmission after the exhibition of the sandwich SPS model at the World Space Congress. We believe the beam control system of the microwave is one of the most important and critical issues to realize the SPS. The retrodirective antenna is a very promising technology using pilot signal radiated from the receiving site to the transmitting antenna. We have already performed the small demonstration on the retrodirective antenna at the IAF Congress at Amsterdam in 1999. Our next plan is a rocket experiment to carry out the beam control test with a pilot signal from the ground. We are launching a small S-310-36 sounding rocket for the test of the Furoshiki deployment, which is extended by the three daughter satellites. We install the antenna element on the daughter and mother sections to work as an active phased array antenna shown in Fig. 1. Each antenna element, which receives the pilot signal transmitted from the large parabola antenna on the ground, transmits a radio wave of the different frequency from the pilot signal by controlling the output phase to the ground. Three large parabola antennas receive the radio waves from the antenna elements on the rocket in order to examine the phase controls. This rocket experiment is the first trial in the world on the retrodirective antenna system between the space and the ground. 
    The S-310-36 sounding rocket is planned to be launched in January, 2006 to verify our newly proposed scheme to construct huge structures under microgravity condition in space. The rocket experiment has three main objectives, the first objective of which is to verify the Furoshiki deployment system, the second is to test the retrodirective antenna system to correct the distortion of the structures in a long range from space to the ground as mentioned above and the last is a microgravity test of the crawling robots on the deployed mesh. Figure 2 shows the configuration of the payload section. The payload section is composed of four sections. The mesh is installed at the top section and the two robots are in the box at the second section under the mesh. The daughter sections at the third section are attached to the mother section, while the momentum wheel is stored in the bottom section. The telemeters and the timer are in the CI section under the payload one. The three sections above the daughter ones are covered by a nose cone.
    The rocket motor will be separated from the payload section to reduce the momentum of the payload, while the nose cone is released after the launch. The payload section is precisely stopped to spin by the momentum wheel for the deployment of the mesh. The mesh will be tangled in case the spinning of the payload section cannot perfectly be stopped. The three daughter sections are separated by springs to deploy the mesh installed on the top of the mother section. The daughter sections may be bounced toward the mother section without a position control. Therefore the daughter section has a gas jet to stop the rebound and keep the strength of the mesh.
    The microwave transmitters are turned on to radiate the microwave toward the ground according to the pilot signal transmitted from the ground station. These transmitters have a retrodirective antenna system to control precisely the direction of the microwave toward the transmitting antenna of the pilot signal. The retrodirective antenna system can decide the output phases of the microwave by conjugating the received phases of the pilot signal. 
    The two robots start to crawl toward the separated daughter sections on the mesh after the deployment. Three cameras observe walking of the robots, which is transmitted via a telemeter to the ground.
    
    Abstract document

    IAC-06-C3.3.03.pdf

    Manuscript document

    IAC-06-C3.3.03.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

    To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.