Analysis of Power Supply by Laser Power Transmission in Lunar Polar Orbit

Based on the an analysis of the characteristics of lunar exploration and laser power transmission (LPT), considering the feature of covering the polar regions for the lunar polar orbit, a laser wireless power supply system operating in the lunar polar orbit is proposed to power the lunar surface explorer in the polar regions to solve the power supply problem during the shadow period of up to 14 days. For the lunar orbiter, the 500 km circular lunar polar orbit selected. The lunar orbiter is equipped with high-power solar array, high-power laser, laser emission and beam pointing control device. The lunar surface explorer is equipped with laser PV array to obtain electric power by laser power transmission in the visible arc between the lunar orbiter and the lunar surface explorer during the shadow period. According to the analysis, for the 12 kW laser and 800 mm aperture transmitting optical system and 4 m receiving laser array, the average power supply is about 2.7 kW during LPT, and the average power supply of lunar explore can reach 300 W, which can meet the survival and partial operating requirements of the surface explorers.