Value chain · CLM-0211
In plain terms
The 1978 design includes a small backup battery, but its only job is to keep the microwave tubes' heaters warm during the brief periods each year when the Earth blocks the sun from the satellite. It is not a battery for storing the satellite's main power output.
The claim as recorded
The 1978 reference design assumes a nickel-hydrogen battery system providing 12.186 megawatt-hours of energy storage, sized to supply klystron cathode heater power for up to 2 hours during solar occultation (eclipse) periods only, not to store bulk power for the satellite as a whole.
Scope and limits
This does not establish an energy-storage requirement, chemistry, or capacity for the satellite's main power path - only for a specific housekeeping sub-load (klystron cathode heaters). It should not be read as "SBSP requires 12 MWh of storage" without that qualification.
What it assumes
Occultation (eclipse) events are short enough (this report elsewhere treats GEO eclipse seasons as brief) that 2 hours of heater-only backup is sufficient; no other on-board load requires storage.
Where it comes from
p.284 (Appendix B, "Antenna Power Distribution"): "A nickel hydrogen battery system provides 12.186 megawatt hours of energy storage for klystron cathode heater power during solar occultations. Up to two hours capacity is provided." Confirmed verbatim against the PDF text layer.
Basis: 5 GW GEO photovoltaic point design, antenna power distribution subsystem
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-002 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0211
CLM-0211, 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.