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26 April 1995 Advantages of China Lake for laser power beaming
Harold E. Bennett
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Proceedings Volume 2376, Laser Power Beaming II; (1995) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.208214
Event: Photonics West '95, 1995, San Jose, CA, United States
Abstract
The site for the proposed National Advanced Optic Mission Initiative (NAOMI) facility will be in the mountains near China Lake, California. This location has 260 clear days per year (more than any other feasible site in the U.S.). In 1993 there were 5 completely overcast days all year. The area near the proposed site is unpopulated. The solar insolation in this general area is the greatest of any area in the United States. The NAOMI system will be installed at an altitude of 5600 feet. Astronomical seeing there is excellent. Even at a less favored site than that planned for NAOMI the average Fried seeing coefficient ro is 12 cm in the visible region and 20 cm values of ro (comparable to the best observatories) are commonly observed. The area is centrally located in and entirely surrounded by one of the largest restricted airspace/military operating airspace complexes in the United States, 12% of the entire airspace in California. Electrical power is available from either the nearly Coso Geothermal plant, second largest in the United States, or from the even closer cogeneration plant at Trona, California. Cooling water can be obtained from the nearby area or from the lake itself. Although a dry playa, the lake has a high brackish groundwater level. Most of the commercial satellites over the U.S. could be reached by a laser/telescope system located on government land at the Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) military reservation at China Lake. This telescope/laser system will be a prototype for five other systems planned for around the world. The complex will provide laser power beaming to all satellites and put the United States into the position of world leader in satellite technology and power beaming to space.
© (1995) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
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Harold E. Bennett "Advantages of China Lake for laser power beaming", Proc. SPIE 2376, Laser Power Beaming II, (26 April 1995); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.208214
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KEYWORDS
Satellites
Space telescopes
Telescopes
Satellite communications
Unmanned aerial vehicles
Free electron lasers
Prototyping
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