Engineering Commons^™

A 6-U Commercial Constellation For Space Solar Power Supply To Other Spacecraft, Corey Bergsrud, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

This poster presents early stage planning for a constellation

of 6-U CubeSats which will collect power from

the sun and supply it to other spacecraft in Earth orbit. Unlike

solar panels (which have a known decay rate), antenna

systems (such as would be required to receive microwavetransmitted

power) do not substantially decay over the

typical (or prospectively extended, under this model)

spacecraft lifetime. This allows a spacecraft to be built for

long-term operations (utilizing an electric propulsion technology

and/or a greater supply of conventional propellant)

and receive power from a lower-cost utility provider

spacecraft, which can be replaced on a …