Current Status and Future Scope of Laser Energy Beaming Technology for Solar-Pumped Laser

Abstract

The current status and the future scope of the laser energy beaming technology of the Laser Space Solar Power System (L-SSPS) are reviewed. L-SSPS supplies solar power in space to the earth by a laser beam at the GW level in total. The development of a highly accurate laser pointing system on the geostationary orbit in space is important for safe, high power laser beaming to the ground. The KIRARI of a Japanese laser communication satellite is introduced to understand a highly accurate pointing system in orbit and to extract the development task of L-SSPS. Future scopes are also mentioned, including a moon exploration mission as a power supplier.