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S
uch a system would enable missions with characteristic velocities of 100 to 200 km/s, and would enable a mission to the solar gravity lens location of 550 AU in less than 15 years.
The Phase I study investigated all of the key assumption made in the original proposal including:
* the feasibility of developing photovoltaic arrays with an areal density of 200 g/m^2;
* the feasibility of developing a high power electric propulsion system with a specific power of less than 0.3 kg/kW;
* the feasibility of developing photovoltaic cells tuned to the frequency of the laser with efficiencies of greater than 50%;
* and the feasibility of being able to point the laser array with the required accuracy and stability necessary to perform the reference mission to the solar gravity lens location.
The Phase I work identified plausible approaches for achieving each of these technology goals. In addition, the Phase I work looked at the system engineering of the entire propulsion system architecture with the objective of minimizing the laser aperture size.