Feasibility of a Solar Powered Re-Deployable Stratospheric LTA Platform 2000-01-1506

Lighter-Than-Air type stratospheric long duration platforms, now under development, are re-deployable vehicles which play identical roles as artificial satellites except that LTA platforms can be recovered, refit and launched again in case of malfunction and after their lifetime service, all of them can be recovered, unlike satellites resulting in space debris and further atmospheric contamination. These LTA stratospheric platforms can be driven by either solar power or ground-to-air transmitted microwave power. Solar powered platforms are the most environmentally friendly, but need secondary batteries for nighttime propulsion, making vehicle size bigger. This paper presents the feasibility of the solar powered stratospheric platform and its re-deployable processes.