Materials processing for space applications using a gyrotron-based millimeter-wave system

Because of the beam forming capability of a millimeter-wave source at 83-GHz, a gyrotron-based system is being used to develop material processing technologies for possible space applications, e.g., the Moon and Mars. Preliminary studies of the interaction of a millimeter-wave beam and simulants of lunar regolith (i.e., 'moon dust') is presented. The configuration of the millimeter-wave processing system is given in Bruce et al. (2005) and Choi et al. (2004) and is not described in detail here. Additionally, an initial design study of a flyable millimeter-wave system is also described.