Speakers
Description
This paper presents the conceptual design of POWER (Platform for Orbital Wireless Energy Recharge), a 3U CubeSat In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) mission developed to validate microwave-based Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Aligned with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 9, the mission addresses the critical limitation of satellite operational lifetimes imposed by onboard energy reserves, proposing a sustainable paradigm for in-orbit servicing. The project is the result of a multinational collaboration among four European universities (University of Naples Federico II, UPM Madrid, ENSEEIHT Toulouse, and IST Lisbon) and was made possible by the T.I.M.E. (Top Industrial Managers in Engineering) association, which played a pivotal role in the formation of the project group.
The spacecraft architecture features a novel deployable payload system that separates a receiving module from the main bus while maintaining mechanical constraints with the main structure, enabling controlled WPT experiments without the risks associated with autonomous formation flying. Furthermore, this mechanism allows a change in the distance between the transmitting and the receiving antennas to acquire data in multiple configurations. The payload integrates a custom-designed 5.2 GHz patch antenna array and a high-power-density Eaton supercapacitor storage bank. These supercapacitors buffer the primary Electrical Power System (EPS) during the high-power transmission bursts, isolating the main battery from electrical stress.
Operating in a 450 km Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) with a nominal lifetime of one year, the mission relies on a cyclical Concept of Operations: the primary batteries recharge the supercapacitors over four consecutive orbits, followed by a microwave power transmission event in the subsequent orbit. Through comprehensive mission analysis, subsystems design, and system and performance budgets, this study
confirms the feasibility of using compact CubeSat platforms to test technologies essential for future spaceto-space energy distribution networks.