Characterization of a persistent lunar surface science network using on-orbit beamed power

A persistent distributed lunar surface sensor network will help to build greater insight into the lunar environment than ever before. The challenge facing such a network lies in providing power to its nodes for the long lunar night. Additionally, a complete lunar science network will require at least one orbiter to serve as a communication relay to farside sites. Current concepts involve either solar-electric nodes with batteries sized to last through the night or radioisotope thermal generators. The former has a problem with mass and the latter a problem with availability of fuel and cost. This paper presents a concept that utilizes solar-electric landers that have reduced battery capacity, and push the nighttime energy collection requirements up to orbiters. These orbiters transmit the energy to the nightside stations via collimated light, which is collected by the photovoltaic cells on the lander. This paper discusses the design trades associated with such a concept, and enumerates some of the tightly coupled decisions that exist between orbiter and lander.