Russian scientists have created a system of wireless transmission of energy in space – CNews.ru

RSC “Energy” is developing a new technology of energy transfer in space by using infrared rays. Development will be used to power the spacecraft

The specialists RSC “Energy” started ground tests of the new system of laser energy transfer. To do this, on the premises built test track length of 1.5 km, which are experiencing the guidance system of the infrared laser beam from the transmitter to the receiver. According to the head of department for energy systems of space vehicles of the new generation of RSC “Energia” Vyacheslav Tugaenko, tests are successful.

Sistemu wireless power transmission test on the ISS and the transport ship “Progress”

The wireless transmission system consists of a powerful laser IR emitter invisible range and the photoelectric receiver. With such a system, a power-spacecraft can remotely provide power to the other machine – not equipped with a powerful grid. Sometimes it is very useful, for example, when accelerating research probe or to power small cheap satellites into Earth orbit. By using a wireless system, you can save a lot of apparatus, receiving energy. An example of the use of wireless power transmission may be the flight of an unmanned probe to the outer Solar System. In this case, the Earth probe can be dispersed in the ion engines, using the energy of the laser with a special feeding station or ISS. Thus the spacecraft may be used to disperse a powerful external source of energy and get up to speed much faster without the need for a powerful built-in power supply, consuming valuable mass in scientific equipment.

“joined the project leading laboratories in the country, and today We already have receivers photovoltaic converters with an efficiency of about 60%, – quotes site of RSC “Energia” Vyacheslav word Tugaenko. – According to experts of our corporation, the efficiency of the entire tract may reach 10-20%, and the use of the latest advances in laser technology and optoelectronics – up to 30%. As a result of the initial research has come to understand that we can carry out such an experiment in space. The space experiment is planned to transfer energy to the ISS on the transport ship “Progress”, which for this purpose will be allotted to the station for one or two kilometers “.

The technology of wireless power transmission using infrared laser can be used not only in space but also in the world, primarily for the power of autonomous robots. This increases the duration of the drones “to infinity”, solving the main problem of the modern robotics – short battery operation.