Energy Aperture

Value chain · CLM-0668

In plain terms

The same company's own numbers show that, using the identical rocket and the identical (chemical) engine type throughout, simply choosing a higher orbit roughly quadruples the cost per kilogram - a separate effect from which propulsion type is used.

The claim as recorded

Virtus Solis's own model, holding launch vehicle (Starship) and propulsion type (chemical) constant, shows orbit choice alone driving a roughly 4x cost-per-kg multiplier: at 100 reuses, $9/kg to LEO, $26/kg to its own Molniya orbit (one tanker), and $35/kg to GEO (six tankers).

Scope and limits

T4, company's own unaudited model. Six tankers to GEO versus one to Molniya is itself a large driver of this ratio and is specific to Virtus Solis's own assumed satellite mass and orbital mechanics; this ratio should not be read as a general physical constant.

What it assumes

Both the Molniya and GEO cost figures use chemical tanker refuelling in the company's own model, so this isolates orbit choice from propulsion-architecture choice.

Where it comes from

SRC-013 Survey of Space Based Solar Power (SBSP): A Comparison of SBSP Reference Designs and their...
, PDF p.14 (text layer): cost-per-kg-to-orbit table at varying Starship reuse counts, giving $9/kg (LEO), $26/kg (Molniya, one tanker), $35/kg (GEO, six tankers) at 100 reuses.

Basis: USD/kg, 2024 vintage, at stated Starship reuse counts

Related records
Answers question
QST-040 not published in this release

Cite this

energyaperture.com/c/clm-0668

CLM-0668, Energy Aperture, as of 2024.

Connected records

Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.

Also from SRC-013
CLM-0187The company's own 2024 analysis estimates that a single, non-reused Starship launch to low orbit would cost about $665 per kilogram, and...
CLM-0532A different space-solar-power company's own 2024 analysis estimates that a single non-reused Starship launch to low orbit would cost about...
CLM-0667One company's design deliberately avoids the standard high orbit used by other designs, because it believes waiting for compatibility with...
CLM-1194The company's first planned project is sized at 200 MW to the grid from a 732-tonne satellite, running nine-tenths of the time over a...
CLM-1195The design builds one thin, nearly kilometre-wide disc out of many metre-sized flat satellites, each with solar cells on one side and radio...
CLM-1196A separate, very light mirror flies beside each array and turns slowly, once a year, so the solar cells always see the Sun; for the first...
CLM-1197The company beams at 10 GHz and claims its beam loses nothing in space on the way down, where the other designs in its own table lose...
CLM-1198The first project's receiving site is a circle 2 km across, with two hours of batteries on the ground.
More on the source page.