Technologies for Lunar Surface Power Systems Power Beaming and Transfer

Wireless power transmission within a given working area is required or enabling for many NASA Exploration Systems. Fields of application include robotics, habitats, autonomous rendezvous and docking, life support, EVA, and many others. In robotics applications, for example, the robots must move in the working area without being hampered by power cables and, meanwhile, obtain a continuous and constant power from a power transmitter. The development of modern technology for transmitting electric power over free space has been studied for several decades, but its use in a system has been mainly limited to low power, 1–2 Vdc output voltage at a transmission distance of few meters for which relatively less than 0.5 mW/cm2 is required (e.g., Radio frequency identification RFID). Most of the rectenna conversion efficiency research to date has concentrated in low GHz frequency range of 2.45 to 10 GHz, with some work at 35 GHz. However, for space application, atmospheric adsorbtion is irrelevant and higher frequen...