Space power beaming for lunar exploration | Intuitive Machines x Star Catcher скачать в хорошем качестве

Space power beaming for lunar exploration | Intuitive Machines x Star Catcher

Star Catcher and Intuitive Machines just showed how lasers could power lunar rovers. Engineers joke they'd do unspeakable things for an extra watt on the Moon. But what if they had extra kilowatts? Watch Intuitive Machines' Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) drive by for a charge, and learn how space power beaming unlocks the Moon. Star Catcher, the space energy company, is building the first power grid in space. Using optical power beaming, the Star Catcher Network transmits concentrated solar energy directly to satellites’ existing solar arrays. Scale your available power by up to 10x with no hardware modifications required. In a recent demo at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (across the historic 2.8 mile [4.6 km] Launch and Landing Facility runway that the Space Shuttle used for landings), Star Catcher beamed energy via high-efficiency lasers to Intuitive Machines’ lunar terrain vehicle, proving that wireless optical power beaming can keep missions running in the Moon’s harshest environments, including the South Pole and permanently shadowed craters. The lunar South Pole is a prime target for NASA’s Artemis program and other international missions because of its potential water ice deposits, which could be turned into life support resources and rocket fuel. But it’s also one of the hardest places to operate: long lunar nights, extreme cold, and deep shadows make traditional solar panels and batteries heavy, complex, and limited. Star Catcher’s vision is an orbital energy grid that collects sunlight in space, converts it into laser power, and beams it down to standard solar panels on the surface working with no custom receivers — and no heavy, expensive, sprawling solar farms. During this test campaign, Star Catcher set the new world record for optical power beaming — surpassing DARPA's previous records showing that laser power beaming can deliver meaningful, scalable energy for extending lunar surface operations. Learn more: Intuitive Machines: www.intuitivemachines.com Star Catcher: www.star-catcher.com