Space applications of high power microwaves
Space applications of high power microwaves
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DOI：
10.1109/ppps.2007.4651834
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发表时间：
2007-06
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影响因子：
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通讯作者：
J. Benford
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文献类型：
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作者：
J. Benford
已经提出了多种使用高功率微波束从地球到空间、空间到地球和空间到空间传输能量的方法。全部使用能量传送。研究了微波束用于推进航天器发射到轨道、轨道提升、从轨道发射到行星际空间和星际空间以及部署大型空间结构。微波热火箭被称为“微波热推进器”，是一种可重复使用的单级飞行器，它使用高功率微波束为热交换器推进系统提供动力，比冲是传统火箭的两倍。它可以改变发射到太空的经济学。微波推进帆是一种新型航天器，有望彻底改变未来的太空探测器。光束驱动帆飞行现在已经展示了光束驱动推进的基本特征。微波空间推进的早期使命正在大大缩短帆脱离地球轨道所需的时间。对由来自地面或轨道的微波束驱动的帆的轨迹和逃逸时间的模拟表明，共振方法可以将从地球轨道逃逸的时间减少两个数量级。许多光束驱动帆的任务已经被量化，用于外太阳系、柯伊伯带、太阳层顶、星际介质的高速测绘。倒数第二个是星际先驱使命。对于这种使命级别，在高加速度下操作，帆的尺寸可以减小到小于100米，并且加速功率为100兆瓦集中在帆上。在1 GW时，帆的尺寸可扩展到200米，超轻型探测器的速度可达到250公里/秒，以执行非常快的任务。这样的帆骑梁会稳定吗？实验和模拟已经证实，波束骑确实发生锥形帆形状。光束还可以携带角动量，并将其传递给帆，以帮助在飞行中控制它。虽然技术可行性是这里的重点，但倡导者还必须处理社会问题：干扰旁瓣中的非预期目标，频谱分配和潜在的武器化。许多技术手段已经掌握在手中：微波和毫米波阵列天线已经用于天文学，高频源正在开发用于聚变和军事。开发空间功率束基础设施的一种协同方式是基于通用模块的增量构建，首先解决低功率应用，然后稳步升级到更高功率、更大孔径。
A variety of methods have been suggested for transferring energy from Earth-to-space, space-to-Earth, and space-to-space using high power microwave beams. All use power beaming. Microwave beams have been studied for propelling spacecraft for launch to orbit, orbit raising, launch from orbit into interplanetary and interstellar space and deployment of large space structures. The microwave thermal rocket, called the ‘microwave thermal thruster’, is a reusable single stage vehicle that uses a high power microwave beam to provide power to a heat-exchanger propulsion system, with double the specific impulse of conventional rockets. It could transform the economics of launch to space. Microwave propelled sails are a new class of spacecraft that promises to revolutionize future space probes. Beam-driven sail flights have now demonstrated the basic features of the beam-driven propulsion. An early mission for microwave space propulsion is dramatically shortening the time needed for sails to escape Earth orbit. Simulations of trajectories and escape time for sails driven by a microwave beam from the surface or from orbit show that resonance methods can reduce escape times from Earth orbit by as much as two orders of magnitude. A number of missions for beam-driven sails have been quantified for high velocity mapping of the outer solar system, Kuiper Belt, the Heliopause, the interstellar medium. The penultimate is the interstellar precursor mission. For this mission class, operating at high acceleration the sail size can be reduced to less than 100 m and accelerating power ∼100 MW focused on the sail. At 1 GW, sail size extends to 200 m and super-lightweight probes reach velocities of 250 km/s for very fast missions. Will such sails riding beams be stable? Experiments and simulations have verified that beam-riding does occur for conical sail shapes. Beams can also carry angular momentum and communicate it to a sail to help control it in flight. Although technical feasibility is the focus here, advocates must also deal with societal issues: interference with unintended targets in the sidelobes, spectrum allocation and potential weaponization. Much of the technical means are already in hand: microwave and millimeter wave array antennas are already in use for astronomy, sources at high frequencies are being developed for fusion and the military. A synergistic way to develop a space power-beaming infrastructure is incremental buildup based on a common module, with lower power applications addressed first, followed by steady upgrading to higher power, larger apertures.