Design of a millimeter waveguide satellite for Space Power Grid

A central element in the use of Space as a power grid for near-real-time power exchange, is a constellation of satellites, capable of receiving and relaying beamed power at multi-megawatt level with extremely high efficiency and low thermal losses. The conceptual design of such a satellite is considered in this paper. Preliminary calculations indicate that power delivery and transmission will use millimeter waveguides inside the satellite to guide the power between antennae, and as feeds for the antennae. The paper seeks solutions for the milimeter waveguides, antennae and thermal control systems in order to refine the mass and efficiency estimates. While the standardized design is for 2000-kilometer orbits, an option to use fewer satellites between as few as two participating nations at 5500 km is also considered at the startup of the system. The NASA system design process is followed wherever practical. However, some innovations are required beyond to move into the regime of 60MW power beams with millimeter waveguides. Corrugated waveguides are identified as a solution for 220 GHz beam redirection, directly coupled to antenna elements.