Planetary Lasers - Reference System

9301-038

9301-038a

Transmitter

Location = Venus

Radius of Orbit = 7,641 km

Configuration = Linear Resonator

Number of Reflectors (Spacecraft) = 6

Number of Hexagonal Mirrors per Reflector = 230,000

Length of Pentagonal Sides = 130 km

Spacecraft Mass = 95,000 MT

Electrical Power = 405 MW

Wavelength = 10.6 µm

Emission Linewidth = 3.3 Hz

Circulating Cavity Power = 8.7 MW

Baseline Cavity Diameter = 1 km

Output Power Density = 11 W/m² (< 1% Solar Intensity at 1 A.U.)

Output Power = 180 kW

Lagrange Retargeting Efficiency = 20%

Intensity Modulation via deflection or defocusing.

9301-038b

Receiver

Aperture = 1 km

Heterodyne Detection

Antenna/Heterodyne Efficiency = 20%

Matched MCSA Bandwidth = 3.3 Hz

Reference Bit Error Probability = 10^-9

Brent Sherwood, "Engineering Planetary Lasers For Interstellar Communication", NASA Contractor Report 180780, May 1988.