0191-9067/85 $3.00 + .00 Copyright ® 1985 SUNSAT Energy Council MICROWAVE ENERGY TRANSMISSION TEST TOWARD THE SPS USING THE SPACE STATION N.KAYA Department of Instrumentation Kobe University Rokko, Kobe 657, Japan H. MATSUMOTO Radio Atmospheric Science Center Kyoto University Uji, Kyoto 611, Japan S. MIYATAKE Department of Communication Systems University of Electro-Communication Chofu, Tokyo 182, Japan I. KIMURA Department of Electrical Engineering Kyoto University Kyoto 606, Japan M.NAGATOMO Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Komaba, Tokyo 153, Japan Abstract — An outline of a project METT (Microwave Energy Transmission Test) using the Space Station is described. The objectives of the METT are to develop and test the technology of microwave energy transmission for the future Solar Power Satellite (SPS), and to estimate the environmental effects of the high power microwaves on the ionosphere and the atmosphere. Energy generated with solar cells is transmitted from a transmitting antenna on the bus platform near the Space Station to a rectenna on the sub-satellite or the ground station in order to test the total efficiency and the functions of the developed system of the energy transmission. Plasma similar to that in the D and E layers in the ionosphere is produced in a large balloon opened on the sub-satellite in order to investigate possible interactions between the SPS microwave and the ionospheric plasma and to determine the maximum power density of the microwave beam which passes through the ionosphere. INTRODUCTION The Solar Power Satellite has a large solar cell array, approximately 10 by 5 km, on the Earth's geosynchronous orbit. It collects solar energy in space and the electricity is fed to microwave generators incorporated in a transmitting antenna about 1 km in diam. The antenna directs the microwave beam to a receiving antenna on the Earth where the microwave energy is efficiently converted back to electricity. The system can produce about 5 GW of electricity on the ground. There are no critical technolog-
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