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Feasibility Study on Microwave Power Transmission to an Airplane
for Future Mars Observation
Tomohiko Mitani, Masashi Iwashimizu, Akihito Nagahama, and Naoki Shinohara
Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji-shi, 611-0011 Japan
mitani@rish.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Graduate School of Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology,
1-1 Sensui-cho, Tobata-ku, Kitakyushu-shi, Fukuoka, 804-8550 Japan
Keywords: Microwave Power Transmission, Magnetron, Rectenna.
Abstract: The objective of the present study is to investigate the feasibility of microwave power transmission to an
airplane for future Mars observation. Airplane is a possibility of Mars observation with wide range and high
resolution, compared to rover or satellite. Since the surface pressure of Mars atmosphere is much thinner than
the Earth, weight reduction is essential to realize airplane flight on Mars. We therefore propose long-time
flight on Mars by using microwave power transmission. We conducted terrestrial experiments of microwave
power transmission to a prototype airplane. We developed a magnetron-based microwave transmitting system,
the frequency of which was fixed with signal injection locking method. Rectennas (receiving antenna +
rectifying circuit) were mounted on the prototype airplane for driving a propeller connected to an electric
motor. Although autonomous flight was not successful yet, we demonstrated that the prototype airplane could
fly by receiving the microwave power.
1 INTRODUCTION
Mars, the fourth planet from the sun, is always of
interest to space scientists and astronomers. Lots of
Mars exploration programs have been executed since
1960s. The Mars rover “Curiosity”, launched in 2011
and landed on Mars in 2012, provides numerous
observation data including images of Martian
landscape and properties of Martian rocks and soils.
Airplane is expected as an alternative Mars
observation sysytem to satellite and rover. It can
move around more widely and quickly than rover, and
can take images with better resolution than satellite.
However the airplane is technically difficult to gain
sufficient aerodynamic lift, because the surface
pressure of Mars is only 0.6 % on Mars of that of the
Earth. Weight reduction of the airplane is therefore
essential to realize the flight on Mars.
We propose microwave power transmission
(MPT) as power supply to a Mars observation
airplane. MPT can reduce the airplane weight by
replacing battery or fuel with rectenna (receiving
antenna + rectifying circuit). It can also realize a long-
time flight by supplying electricity continuously from
a long distance. Figure 1 shows a conceptual image
of a Mars observation airplane driven by MPT. The
transmitting system will be placed on Mars and
electricity will be transferred to the airplane via
microwave. With detecting the airplane position, the
microwave beam will be always focused on the
airplane.
The objective of the present study is to investigate
the feasibility of MPT to an airplane for future Mars
observation. In this paper we describe a magnetron-
based microwave transmitting system, a prototype
airplane, and terrestrial MPT demonstration to the
prototype airplane, with referring to the previous
research outcomes (Iwashimizu, 2014, Nagahama,
2012, 2011).
Mitani T., Iwashimizu M., Nagahama A., Shinohara N. and Yonemoto K.
Feasibility Study on Microwave Power Transmission to an Airplane for Future Mars Observation.
DOI: 10.5220/0005421100470050
In Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Telecommunications and Remote Sensing (ICTRS 2014), pages 47-50
ISBN: 978-989-758-033-8
Copyright
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2014 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved