Value chain · CLM-0206
In plain terms
The heat-management equipment on the transmitting antenna alone was expected to weigh about 2,500 tonnes, roughly one-twelfth of the whole satellite's dry weight.
The claim as recorded
In the 1978 US DOE/NASA reference design's mass statement, the antenna section's dedicated "thermal control" subsystem is assumed to mass 2.457 million kg, about 8% of the design's 30.47 million kg total dry mass (before a 25% growth margin).
Scope and limits
This is a 1978 ASSUMED point-design mass estimate, not a measured or flown mass, and covers only the antenna section's dedicated thermal hardware. It must not be read as a whole-satellite thermal mass fraction, since the collector array's own thermal management cost is not separately stated in this table.
What it assumes
The table's own subsystem boundaries hold; thermal control for the collector (solar) array is not broken out as its own line item in this table and appears folded into "structures and mechanisms" or "power source," so it is excluded from this figure.
Where it comes from
Table R-5, "Photovoltaic Point Design Mass Statement, 5 GW": Antenna Section, "THERMAL CONTROL" = 2.457 (million kg); "TOTAL SPS DRY WEIGHT" = 30.47 (million kg) (SRC-085, PDF page 237). 2.457 / 30.47 = 8.06% (arithmetic derived from the table).
Basis: mass statement for the 1978 reference 5 GW photovoltaic point design, "antenna section" only; million kg
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-002 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0206
CLM-0206, Energy Aperture, as of 1978.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-085
- CLM-0013The paper that modern UK studies rely on for the beam figure calls anything below 1 kilowatt per square metre safe, with 230 watts per...CLM-0020The original 1978 design set the beam at 230 watts per square metre in the middle of the receiving site, about one twenty-third of that at...CLM-0023In the 1978 reference design, two limits set the size of the transmitter and the receiving site: how much heat the transmitter can shed...CLM-0039The 1978 report set the figure to protect radio and navigation systems from a disturbed ionosphere, called the number theoretical and...CLM-0045The apparent conflict between 12 and 23 was not an error. The underlying study gave a range, and the figure adopted sits near the top of it.CLM-0101The 1978 contract required the researchers to report fixes if ionospheric disturbance pushed the pilot-beam phase error past 2 to 3...CLM-0137In four major space solar power studies from 1978 to 2007, none put a number on how much of the beam's energy would be lost if the beam...CLM-0138The original 1978 government design for beaming power down from space adds up all the expected energy losses to get 63% overall efficiency...More on the source page.