The usual power systems aren't feasible on Venus because of its extreme conditions. Could we beam power down to a lander with lasers?
Despite Venera 13’s brief but significant success, the planet held onto its secrets, and we’re drawn back to its surface to reveal them. That’s why NASA wants to send a lander to the surface as part of itsBut there’s the question of how to power a lander on Venus’ unique, treacherous surface, assuming we can build one that won’t easily succumb to Venus’ nasty conditions. The usual methods—solar power, batteries, radioisotope thermoelectric generators—aren’t up to the task.
Could this abundant energy be harnessed by solar collectors above the clouds and then beamed down to a lander/rover? It would have to make it through a lot of thick clouds. “The feasibility of such an approach and other related mission concepts are discussed herein from a perspective of atmospheric absorption and scattering of the beamed energy,” the paper states.
But those are larger issues of overall mission architecture. This research assumes that there are solutions to that problem. In this work, the authors focus on how to beam the energy and receive it, something that hasn’t been studied thoroughly. “However, to date, there has not been a thorough study regarding the feasibility of transmitting power at relevant wavelengths, if a suitable platform and mission architecture could be devised and implemented,” the authors write.
Lasers have other advantages, too, like reduced beam spreading compared to microwaves. That means receiving antennae don’t need to be as large. A one-meter receiver might be enough and wouldn’t be so unwieldy as to interfere with the design of a lander too much.
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