1. Use low-mass/high-efficiency space solar energy, rather than nuclear energy, as the basic power system; 2. Modularize transportation systems into packages of less than 40,000 pounds each to enable launch of all but selected surface systems, with resorting to heavy lift launch vehicles (HLLVs); 3. Fabricate multiple identical SEPS systems to enable effective mass production at dramatically lower cost per unit weight of purchased hardware; and, 4. Use ‘brilliant” systems architectures that can assemble themselves in Earth orbit with little more than autonomous rendezvous and docking technologies; 5. Exploit the higher fuel efficiency (“specific impulse” of electric propulsion to offset the mass associated with modularity of systems and interconnections between systems assembled in space. Because the majority of a mission’s mass could be transported to Earth orbit on lower cost vehicles, a substantial savings (perhaps a factor of 2-to-3) in launch costs might be achieved. Because most system elements are mass-produced, costs per unit weight could be reduced by as much as a factor of 10. As an added advantage, SolarClipper cargo transfer vehicles can - once they reach Mars orbit — be deployed for use as operational solar power satellites using wireless power transmission to provide essential energy to surface operations (thus eliminating the need for Mars surface nuclear reactors). This combination of SEPS for Earth-Mars transportation, and SPS at Mars, with WPT to power systems on the planet’s surfaces, could make possible non-nuclear exploration architectures (at least within the inner solar system where sunlight is sufficiently intense to use effectively). 7.6. SSP Critical Technologies There are many system-level and architecture-level alternatives to the 1979 SPS Reference. Still, at a high level, the critical subsystems of most SPS are common. Common SPS subsystems include: Power Transmission; Energy Storage; Solar Energy Collection and Conversion; Guidance, Navigation and Control; Thermal Control; and worksheets combining Communications and CommandZData Handling; and Structure and Hamess. However, the critical technologies needed for the solar power satellites concepts examined as a part of the “fresh look” study within these subsystem categories are in many cases drastically different from those identified 20 years ago. Space Transportation. As is true for all projected new space industries (including areas such as space business parks, public space travel, or space solar power), dramatic reductions in the cost of access to space and in the cost of in-space transportation (ie., from LEO to other orbits) is enabling. It is integral to the current study’s results that the modularization of the SPS design to the point where individual elements can be launched in packages of about 20,000 kilograms or less will allow a future SSP business to avoid the cost of developing an SPS-unique laimch system. Instead, the SSP business is only required to make the investment in its own fleet of highly reusable launch vehicles. The technology for such systems are currently under development within NASA’s Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) program and Advanced Space Transportation (AST) Program This strategy is intended to enable lower “cost-to-first- power” investments. Additional study is needed to examine issues associated with other alternatives, including the possibility of shared development of new highly reusable launch vehicles by a group of industry and commercial partners for multiple applications - including SSP.
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