Value chain · CLM-0075
In plain terms
When ESA revisited the question in 2004 it used the 1978 theory and did not cite the 1979-81 Platteville tests or NASA's 1981 revision of the figure.
The claim as recorded
The 2004 ESA and University of Leicester review cites Perkins and Roble 1978 and Space Solar Power Review volume 2 of 1981, contains no reference at all to NASA RP-1076, to the revision of the limit from 23 to 55-60 mW/cm2, or to the Platteville experiments, and states that the only direct observations carried out so far on the interaction of microwave beams of frequency and power density similar to those proposed for SPS systems are those from the MINIX rocket experiment (Kaya et al., 1986).
Scope and limits
Establishes what the review cites and states, not what its authors knew. Absence from a reference list is strong but not conclusive evidence of unawareness.
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
Full text of SRC-104 read, including its reference list. Zero references to RP-1076, to the 55-60 mW/cm2 revision, or to Platteville. SRC-104 PDF p13 (printed p9): "The only direct observations carried out so far on the interaction of microwave beams of frequency and power density similar to those proposed for SPS systems are those from the MINIX ... experiment (Kaya et al., 1986)." The same page cites HF heating observations at Arecibo (Farley et al., 1983) and EISCAT (Basu et al., 1987) and notes those facilities operate well below SPS frequencies, so the MINIX statement is restricted to microwave experiments and does not by itself overlook the HF results that fed RP-1076 (CLM-0061).
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-009 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0075
CLM-0075, Energy Aperture, as of 2004.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-104
- CLM-0042The 230 watts per square metre figure applies to one frequency and one design lineage. Japanese designs at a higher frequency allow up to...CLM-0057There is a formula for the instability threshold. It depends on electron density cubed, electron temperature to the fourth power, and...CLM-0059The two fields were largely the same people from the 1970s, and papers linking them were still appearing after 1991.CLM-0079The 1978 paper modelled both a ground facility and a satellite case, and its 500 watts per square metre figure is a power flux for a given...CLM-0083The formula is the right type but nobody has said how far it can be pushed, and at space solar power frequencies the wave is about 200...CLM-0108A 2004 ESA review found that during the October 2003 solar storm, just under 20 per cent of a space solar power beam would have been...CLM-0109In normal conditions the ionosphere takes essentially none of the beam. In a severe solar storm it could take a little under a fifth of it.CLM-0130The quiet-condition absorption figures from four sources do not disagree. One of them states an upper bound and the others sit inside it.More on the source page.