A limitation on the small-scale demonstration of retrodirective microwave power transmission from the solar power satellite

The solar power satellite (SPS) is a future system for transmitting a high-power microwave beam to the Earth using a large, space-based retrodirective array. However, the small-scale demonstration of a prototype retrodirective transmitter for this application faces a basic limitation and associated tradeoffs, which are identified and described in this paper. Computer-simulated examples are presented, and recommendations are made.