Earth. The rectenna would destructively re-enter within a matter of a few days (See the discussion on the PIC in the Appendix.) 5.2.3 Laser Advanced Demonstrator The goals of a laser experiment would place less emphasis on the operational aspects of future Powersat systems than the microwave demonstrator. This is because a laser system provides power over a range of distances and does not need to fly in close formation with the target or compensate for plasma interactions. However, space-based laser technology is extremely limited compared to microwave systems where most of the technology already exists. Therefore, a laser experiment on Astro-SPAS should place greatest emphasis in developing a high-power/high-efficiency/low-mass laser for space flight applications. The magnitude of the laser power should be driven by the maximum mass and power capability that can be installed on Astro-SPAS. A target of at least 1 kW continuous power and 20-30% efficiency would seem to be reasonable, for example. Together with developing a new laser, the ability to efficiently reconvert this energy into electricity should also be demonstrated. This is also considered an area of almost equal technical uncertainty as the laser itself. The ability to reconvert 30-40% of the incident power would seem reasonable. This would give an overall global efficiency of about 10%. A possible mission scenario could involve the deployment of the Astro- SPAS and target as with the microwave experiment The aperture of the laser telescope would need to be about 0.2 m in diameter in order to keep the target collector area to around 2-3 m in diameter (i.e. about 0.2 kW/m2). The target satellite would then be released and commanded to drift behind Astro-SPAS.
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