In telecommunications, a pilot signal is a signal, usually a single frequency, transmitted over a communications system for supervisory, control, equalization,

continuity, synchronization, or reference purposes. SPS pilot signal design and power transponder analysis The problem of pilot signal parameter optimization and the related problem of power transponder performance analysis for the Solar Power Satellite reference phase control system are addressed. Signal and interference models were established to enable specifications of the front end filters including both the notch filter and the antenna frequency response. A simulation program package was developed to be included in SOLARSIM to perform tradeoffs of system parameters based on minimizing the phase error for the pilot phase extraction. An analytical model that characterizes the overall power transponder operation was developed. From this model, the effects of different phase noise disturbance sources that contribute to phase variations at the output of the power transponders were studied and quantified. Results indicate that it is feasible to hold the antenna array phase error to less than one degree per power module for the type of disturbances modeled. Pilot signals for large active retro-directive arrays It has been suggested that for large active retrodirective arrays, as in the solar power system, a two tone uplink pilot signal with frequencies symmetrically situated around the downlink frequency be used in order to reduce ionospheric biases and to lower the cost since a two tone receiver is economically much cheaper than a single tone phase locked receiver. Such a system now faces two difficulties: the Pi-ambiguity; and a large phase difference between the downlink and uplink signals. The Pi-ambiguity is shown to be easily removed by using a two tone uplink signal with both frequencies situated at one side of the downlink frequency, and the phase difference can be greatly reduced with a three tone or a four tone uplink pilot signal. Effects of ionospheric turbulence on SPS pilot signal The spatial variation of the electron density was studied by monitoring the differential Doppler on radio beacons aboard the Navy navigation satellites. The radio frequency heater was used to deposit energy in the F-region ionosphere with the heating frequency above peak plasma frequency. The effects of the solar power satellite power beam on the pilot signal were simulated. It was found that a small depletion was formed in the beam and that there was turbulence in the elctron density up the magnetic field line from the beam. It is suggested that the depletion will not seriously affect the power or pilot beams of the solar power satellite. The spatial variation of the electron density was studied by monitoring the differential Doppler on radio beacons aboard the Navy navigation satellites. The radio frequency heater was used to deposit energy in the F-region ionosphere with the heating frequency above peak plasma

frequency. The effects of the solar power satellite power beam on the pilot signal were simulated. It was found that a small depletion was formed in the beam and that there was turbulence in the elctron density up the magnetic field line from the beam. It is suggested that the depletion will not seriously affect the power or pilot beams of the solar power satellite.

Tango III : A Space Settlement Design

Power
"For the successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." Richard Feyman

Energy
It has been already said that the rationale for going into space, apart from the fact that the human race must extend its limits and explore and then conquer space, has to do with retrieving energy, mainly the Sun's energy. About 80 % of the total energy demanded by our society is supplied from fossil fuels. 90% of the CO2 which is the major cause of the greenhouse effect comes from combustion. It is now widely accepted that the only way to reduce the environmental risks while sustaining the economic growth is to develop a large-scale alternative energy system which is ecologically benign. A scientific venture must be pursued when it follows a certain logic and the solution is correct, even if technology for proper utilization is not current or not available. Such is this case. Although the human race would perhaps not be able in the very immediate future to exploit the untapped potential of solar energy, it is certainly a direction that must be followed. Exclusive dependence on fossil fuels will inevitably lead to energy shortages. (see Introduction) It must be remembered that this scheme was one of the main determinants in choosing the location of the space colony. The libration points along the Earth's path were chosen primarily for their constant exposure to sunshine.

Solar Energy here on Earth

Why should we go into space to get solar energy and not profit directly from it here on Earth? The answer is twofold : The Atmosphere : The benign atmosphere protects us from the intensity of the sun's rays, that are filtered by our gaseous cover. That same protective effect which shields us and allows life on Earth also prevent us from fully receiving the Sun's energy. It is estimated that, in average, between 0.1 and 0.2 kW/m2 of solar energy can be received from the Sun on the Earth's surface. In near Earth space the quantity o energy that can be collected is approximately ten times as much, that is, around 1 to 2 kW/m2 in average. This first reason is obviously decisive. The Earth's rotation : But even if extra sensitive solar panels could be engineered, there is another problematic factor that complicates full utilization of the sun's energy. The rotation of the Earth, as we very well know, gives rise to days and nights, which means that during 12 hours in average no sunlight hits the surface of our planet. Because of this, solar energy devices have to trap the heat during the night period and great pains are taken to ensure that minimum heat gets lost. None of these problems will be met in space, where sunshine is constant and with far greater intensity.

Generating electricity
Apart from using the sun's energy to supply the Earth, the colonists would benefit from the abundance of energy for their own home processes. Solar energy can be directly converted into electricity by means of photoelectric cells. These cells produce an electrical voltage as long as light shines on them . The photoelectric effect consists in the formation and liberation of electrically charged particles in matter when it is irradiated by light or other electromagnetic radiation. The term photoelectric effect designates several types of related interactions. In the external photoelectric effect, electrons are liberated from the surface of a metallic conductor by absorbing energy from light shining on the metal's surface. The effect is applied in the photoelectric cell, in which the electrons liberated from one pole of the cell, the photocathode, migrate to the other pole, the anode, under the influence of an electric field. Solar cells are made from thin slices of crystalline silicon, gallium arsenide, or other semiconductor materials convert solar radiation directly into electricity. As silicon, for example, is plentiful in lunar soil, the colony could manufacture solar cells for use in solar energy conversion.

Although photoelectric cells are very reliable, their efficiency is low less than 11 percent. Consequently, they must be combined into large arrays to generate sufficient power for practical applications.

Energy intensive processes

The ready availability of energy in the Space Settlement changes radically the way processes are usually engineered here on Earth. Because of the potential energy crisis, all processes are usually designed to use up as little energy as possible. Machines and processes are said to be environmentally friendly when they switch themselves off automatically in order to save energy. In the space settlement, we must train ourselves to change our design preconceptions. Materials are scarce and costly, energy is available and cheap.

Solar Power Satellites

A possible scheme for producing power on a large scale contemplates placing giant solar modules alongside the colony where energy generated from sunlight would be converted to microwaves and beamed to antennas on earth for reconversion to electric power. On ground, the microwave power is rectified and converted to the commercial electric power. To produce as much power as five large nuclear power plants (1 billion watts each) several square km of solar collectors, weighing more than 5 million kg would have to be assembled in the settlement. An earth-based antenna 5 miles in diameter would be required for reception. These vast assemblies are often referred to as Solar Power Satellites (SPS) The concept of the SPS is revolutionary with a high potentiality to solve the global environmental problems, as it uses the limitless solar energy, it utilizes the space outside of the earth ecology system, and it has no by-product waste.

Even though one of its panels could never be deployed, Skylab effectively demonstrated the use of solar energy.

Engineering Aspects
Solar cell technologies in space use are well established. The efficiency of the energy conversion has been steadily improved and reaches 20% for crystalline cells. Thin-type amorphous silicon solar cell which is convenient in this case for, as we have said, silicon can be mined from the Moon would be a good candidate for the SPS use, but the efficiency remains about 10%. GaAs solar cell with a higher efficiency is not suitable for the SPS use because it is extremely expensive and the abundance of the element is quite limited. The electric power generated in orbit is converted to a microwave beam toward the earth. 2.45 GHz microwave is a potential candidate for the near future SPS because of a high transmittance through the atmosphere and maturity of associated semiconductor technologies. The efficiency of power conversion between DC and RF is expected 7080%. The transmitting antenna, spacetenna, will consist of phased arrays which can direct the microwave beam precisely to the ground station. A large-scale receiving antenna, rectenna, is necessary to collect the microwave power from space.

Economics of Electricity from Space

As we have already said, Solar Power Satellites are intended to become a large scale source of electric power for the Earth. In order to achieve this objective it will be necessary for electricity produced by SPS to be competitive with electricity produced from other sources. Overall, if SPS-generated electricity remains substantially more

expensive than other sources (after allowing for all costs including relative environmental impact), it will not be widely used. The overall economics of SPS are best described by the following equation. The basic assumption underlying the equation is that existing electricity generating companies will construct, own and operate rectennas (microwave power receiving antennas) which are linked into their power distribution grids.

Potential Economic Significance of Electricity from Space

The development of microwave power from space as a major new energy source for the human race on Earth would have great economic significance for two reasons, 1) its impact on the energy situation on Earth, and 2) its impact on humans' space activities.

Significance for world energy supplies

In the rich countries of the world, the average electricity capacity is roughly 1 KW per person, and it is continuing to grow at a few % per year. Even if the rich countries improve their efficiency continuously so that the demand stops growing, this level of consumption does not seem likely to fall. According to demographic studies, the population of the world is projected to reach 10,000 million during the next century. So if all today's developing countries reach a standard of living comparable to that in the rich countries today, as they intend, the global demand for electricity is likely to require some 10,000 million KW of capacity, or about 10 times its present level. In order to reach this level humans will need to increase capacity by some 100 GW per year on average through the next 100 years. Even if these figures are no more than fearsome prophecies, the tendency seems to be irreversible. Coal, oil, gas, nuclear fuel are all limited fossil resources, and nuclear technologies have great potential dangers associated with them. As technology advances, solar energy will come to be used on a greater and greater scale. One potentially attractive way of using it is to beam it from space continuously using microwaves. The potential output of such a system is essentially limitless. Consequently if it were to provide a substantial part of humans' needs it would have an enormous impact on world living standards. In particular it could be of great value for today's developing countries, giving them easy access to energy resources, which are the foundation of industrialization. Thus the development of microwave power from space as a major energy source for Earth would use some of the enormous revenue stream of the electricity industry to open access to extraterrestrial resources. In doing so it will create a genuine new frontier and definitively put an end to pessimistic talk about limits to economic growth and even

about the possibility of global wars arising from disputes over the Earth's dwindling resources.

The sun truly "comes up like thunder," and it sets just as fast. Each sunrise and sunset lasts only a few seconds. But in that time you see at least eight different bands of color come and go, from a brilliant red to the brightest and deepest blue. And you see sixteen sunrises and sixteen sunsets every day you're in space. No sunrise or sunset is ever the same. Joseph Allen, US astronaut The success of the Space Shuttle and the advent of the Space Station focus our attention upon a basic question: Why do we have a civil space program? Why do we concern ourselves with rockets and satellites? My own view is that we have a space program not because of the excitement and certainly not because the Russians have one. You have a space program because there are things you can do in space that you cant do on the ground. What things? Astronomy, materials research, navigation and communications, Earth observations, are all activities that lend themselves to space and there are others. Space has become simply a place where we do useful things. Rep. Bob Traxler, U.S. House of Representatives

NASA Starts to Get Serious On Space Based Solar Power

April 12, 2012 | 3 Comments NASAs Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program has started a Phase I effort to explore the overall viability and advance the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) for an orbital power station project called SPS Alpha, or Solar Power Satellite Alpha. Last August, Artemis Innovation Management Solutions was selected for a NASA NIAC award to dive into the details of what Artemis leader John C. Mankins callls the first practical solar-power satellite concept. Mankins published his pdf report March 27th and were now able to download the file. It runs 24 pages and is quite graphic rich.

SPS-Alpha Artists Rendition. Click image for the largest view. After the first few pages of what and who plus a couple historical views of graphics of old ideas Mankins gets to work on the state of the art as his firm sees it. SPS-Alpha is a new idea inspired by biology similar to a hive of bees. This idea brings together a large number of modules assembled to form an enormous satellite. The advantage is there is no single point of failure. In orbit, at great cost and costly access, a near failsafe operation is key to the project being able to stand for financing. Modular also offers individual elements, where no part is over 150kg in weight and manufacturability at scale and en mass. Perhaps of even more import is SPS-Alpha uses a new optical configuration. In the new iteration no large mirrors are needed, eliminating weight and points of failure. Each element is intelligent, being its own local solar power generator using local power management and distribution, with a Wireless Power Transmission (WPT) system based on the retro-directive phased array approach, local thermal management and built with a small flat spacecraft bus formed in a hexagon to interconnect the modules.

The point of the Phase I study is to establish the technical and economic viability the SPS-Alpha idea to bring it up to a point where an analytical proof of concept can start to provide a framework for further study and develop technology. Next common sense, in a bureaucratic sort of way, is applied. Analyze the system endto-end to see if its feasible, identify and assess in more detail the key technology challenges needed with a measure of the critical technologies, get some selected technology into research and development, conduct a starting economic evaluation for viability and get a preliminary roadmap for the research and development. It seems NASA has thought this out. The Phase I project has eleven steps and some have substeps. Over three graphic representations, the report shows how over three stages the bureaucratic process can arrive and concluding analysis. The report also looks at the main parts of the Solar Power Satellite including the hexagonal bus, a boom for the structure, the solar energy harvesting reflector, the interconnects, a power generation module, the WPT unit, plus a PushMe-PullYou robot and ultimately the propulsion and attitude control system. Theres a lot to do. NASA has already started assessing the risk. So far NASA has held two workshops already this year with no Show-Stoppers in evidence. The principle technologies issues center on the wireless power transmission, end-to-end power, thermal, and system intelligence. Its now clear the hexagonal bus and the interconnects are the key systems. The work is underway for mass estimates of refined systems and technologies and that has started the technology roadmap.

SPS-Alpha Operation Concept Graphic. Click image for the largest view. Early results show that a SPS-Alpha could be built using the modular design, a one thousand meter array would need 80,000 modules at a mass between 10 to 12,000 mt. At this early date, the modeling shows that to size a system the time between refueling platform propulsion and attitude control is a key parameter. The new NASA study shows as have other private work that the technology risks are not significant and orbital stations are feasible. The open questions remain, what does it cost and how much net power gets to the surface of the earth? These are questions that are going to need demonstrations. Those alone are very costly enterprises. At the end what will ratepayers have to pay? Orbital power is a fantastic idea and the new NASA report is as interesting as many already seen. Still that cost for power to consumers is an elusive number that has to come soon for credibility. . What is PV? A. PV is short for photovoltaic which comes from the words photo meaning light and voltaic meaning electricity. So basically it means electricity from light. PV is a semiconductor-based technology used to convert light energy into direct current (DC) electricity, using no moving parts, consuming no conventional fuels, and creating no pollution.

Q. How does a Photovoltaic (Solar Power) panel work? A. Photovoltaic (PV) cells are made of special materials called semiconductors such as silicon. When light strikes the PV cell, a certain portion of it is absorbed within the semiconductor material, and the energy of the absorbed light is transferred to the semiconductor. This energy is then drawn from the semiconductor as a flow of electrons electricity. Q. How does electricity get stored for use after sun goes down? A. With a grid connect system, excess electricity that is produced during the day goes back into the local electricity grid. You then receive credit for any power that you put back into the grid. At night time, you automatically use electricity straight from the grid. In a remote solar system, energy produced during the day is stored in batteries and this is used as required. Q. What size system do I need? What will it cost? A. This will depends on what your requirements are and we will help you ascertain this during our complimentary obligation free assessment and quote. In consultation with you we will analyse what your current electricity usage is (on your electricity bill), what percentage of your electricity usage you wish to generate with solar and what your space and budget is. We will provide you with a written quote which will outline your options and the overall cost.