Application of Carbon Nanotube Actuator for SPS

Abstract

  Solar power satellite (SPS), which consists of a large scale power generation and transmission panel, generates electricity by sunlight in orbit and sends energy to the ground with microwave beams. One of the issues to realize SPS is the thermal deformation of the panel due to the temperature difference between the front and back of the SPS. Therefore, it is required to maintain the flatness of the panel. To solve this problem, we are studying the flatness control of panels by carbon nanotube actuators (CNA). CNA is a polymer actuator whose main component is carbon nanotubes, and has excellent electrical properties. And it is expected to be applied to space in the future. In this paper, we report on basic study on SPS application of CNA.