laser pumping requirements. For example, a module with a concentrator diameter of 1 km has to have an electric facility which would be able to convert an average power of around 300 MW. Its mass would be added to the laser mass necessary in both cases,which would be the same in both cases (because of the relative independence of specific laser power output with regard to the pumping method). Optical systems for energy transportation would also be the same. Our suggestions (Proc. SPS-91, pp. 605-611) concerning the laser-solar Z,-SPS experiment were based on the fact that an SPS which uses a solar-pumped laser is at least no worse than the electrically-pumped laser version. The program of such an experiment has to provide a solution to the greatest possible number of key SPS problems. These problems are: the design of large scale, on-board solar power concentrators, of effective on-board energy converters of solar radiation to electromagnetic (optical) radiation (providing the proper thermal regime); forming and precision pointing of light beams to the receiving aperture of the energy consumer; necessary orientation in orbit; and long term operation of the module and its facility. The key technologies for the ground based part of the system also should be perfected: conversion of laser radiation, dependence on atmospheric properties, investigation and confirming of the system’s safety. The system as a whole should give information concerning the co-operation of ground based and on board subsystems, about system reliability, and about possible and optimum applications of space solar energetics. The best way is to carry out an experiment, which not only confirms some suppositions, but also utilizes subsystenil, which would be used as a technical prototype for future full-scale global energetics. Guided by this understanding, we have formulated the following principal features of the experiment: 1) Film concentrator for solar radiation; 2) Solid-state, multi-channel laser with direct solar pumping; 3) Photovoltaic receiver-converter; 4) Forming and high-precision guidance of the laser beam by means of phase conjugation; and 5) The scale of the experiment. The overall concentrator area is 0.3 km2; output laser power is 20-30 MW. Average electrical power provided for the consumer is 10 MW and the total mass of the space-laser energy plant is not more than 100 tons. There are several suggestions regarding this subject. For example, in Proc. SPS 91, pp. 217-223, the possible design of a film concentrator and estimation of its parameters are described: for a 1 km diameter the mass is about 80 tons, and specific density is 0.1 kg / m2 This design is not filled, although the author’s opinion about
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