Value chain · CLM-0533
In plain terms
All the rockets in the world together put about 2.7 million kilograms into orbit in 2025, about a fourteenth of the mass of one solar power satellite design from 1978 (about a thirteenth for the main 1978 reference design).
The claim as recorded
In 2025 the global orbital launch industry conducted 325 launches, delivering about 2,712,023 kg of total spacecraft mass, with SpaceX responsible for 85% of all spacecraft launched; this achieved 2025 baseline is roughly 14 times smaller than a 1978 single-satellite dry mass of 38.09 million kg, which is Rockwell International's 5 GW photovoltaic point design (SRC-085 Table R-5, printed p.B-35, inside Appendix B "Contracted System Definition Studies") and NOT the Reference System - on the Reference System's own 34.159 million kg the multiple is 12.6x, not 14x.
Evidence behind this: T3, the weaker of its sources: the 2025 launch totals come from BryceTech's year review, T2 (SRC-083); the 1978 satellite masses come from the DOE and NASA reference system report, T3 (SRC-085).
Scope and limits
Not SBSP-specific; an industrial-base sizing comparator, not a cost figure. Both 1978 masses include a 25% allowance for growth or contingency; without it the multiples are about 11.2 (Rockwell) and 10.1 (Reference System), our arithmetic. The 2025 total includes BryceTech's estimates where a spacecraft mass was not disclosed.
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
2025 figures: SRC-083 PDF p.1, as quoted in CLM-0236. 1978 masses: SRC-085 Table R-5 (PDF p.237, printed p.B-35), the Photovoltaic Point Design Mass Statement for 5 GW, gives a total SPS dry weight of 30.47 million kg, 7.62 for 25% growth, and 38.09 with growth; SRC-085 Table 1 (PDF p.60, printed p.48), the SPS Mass Statement, gives totals of 34.159 million kg for the GaAlAs CR = 2 option and 50.984 for the silicon CR = 1 option, each after a 25% contingency. Our arithmetic: 38.09e6 / 2,712,023 = 14.0; 34.159e6 / 2,712,023 = 12.6.
Basis: calendar year 2025, global orbital launch industry
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-003 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0533
CLM-0533, Energy Aperture, as of 2025.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-083
- CLM-0195In 2025 the whole world launched about 2,712 metric tons of satellites into orbit across 325 launches. A single 2010-era plan for solar...CLM-0236In 2025, all the rockets launched by every country and company in the world together put about 2.7 million kilograms of satellites into...
- 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.