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  • Lunar Surface Element powered by Solar Power from Space

    Paper number

    IAC-07-C3.1.03

    Author

    Mr. Tallha Samaraee, Advanced Concepts Team, The Netherlands

    Coauthor

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

    Coauthor

    Dr. Claudio Bombardelli, Advanced Concepts Team, The Netherlands

    Year

    2007

    Abstract
    There is a substantial scientific interest and plans to explore lunar surface with robotic elements and possibly to establish human infrastructures in the future. As far any space mission power generation is a key issue. Continuous solar illumination is only available on specific locations at the poles, where a permanent solar radiation occurs within some small regions at high altitude. However, the situation differs for the major part of the lunar surface, where solar radiation is unavailable throughout lunar night cycles of 14 days. Clearly, alternative ways of producing energy in such circumstance are desirable.
    This paper presents the results of a system level trade-off of options for providing sufficient energy to a lunar surface element to survive lunar nights without the use of nuclear power sources (i.e. radioisotope sources and nuclear reactors). The trade-off includes a wide range of laser-transmitted power levels for a mission date around 2020 based on a single launch and relying on technology currently at TRL level 4.
    The trade-off involves the most important subsystem technology choices identified as energy conversion units, laser generation, beam formation, pointing and tracking systems, energy storage technologies as well as in-orbit and surface energy storage devices.
    The trade-off is based on a number of technological assumptions and boundary conditions. The first ones are driven from the identified subsystems and concern their technical specifications such as energy conversion efficiencies and specific power, and accuracy of beam pointing and tracking systems. The second ones are boundary conditions defined in the scenario cases and involve the location, the energy consumption and demand management, and finally the lifetime of the LSE. After identifying the input data, a model in LabView determines the SPS orbital parameters such that the total mass of in orbit and on surface structures is minimised.
    As a result, technological assumptions and boundary conditions can be treated as parameters that resolve the conceptual designs. A comparison with alternative solutions is presented to provide clarity on the feasibility of the SPS concepts. 
    The trade off allows the identification of the main technological vectors and their impact on the entire design.
    
    
    Abstract document

    IAC-07-C3.1.03.pdf