Laser Power Transmission on the Moon Using Multibeams of Single-Mode Fiber Lasers as Wireless System and Optical Fibers as Wired System

抄録

This study proposes wireless and wired types of laser power transmission systems as part of a lunar base infrastructure that connects a power source site to a consumption site at distances ranging from 100 m to 10 km. For transmission over longer distances, a wireless system is proposed as a scalable system up to the 100-kW level using multiple single-mode fiber lasers in the level of 10-kW output. A laser light receiver at the consumption site would be simply one system, not divided into parallel individual receivers corresponding to the individual transmitters. This study also reviews the composition and particle size distribution of the lunar dust that arises from the regolith on the lunar surface and finds that even complete absorption of the laser light by fine dust particles does not lead to a fatal reduction in transmission efficiency. Furthermore, a wired version is proposed to use optical fiber delivery of laser light without any lunar dust issues along the pathway. Electricity–laser efficiency, wavelength-dependence loss in the fiber, and laser–electricity conversion efficiency are discussed as power transmission systems without amplification functions. This study performs comparative analyses of the wired and wireless systems to clarify their differences.