Value chain · CLM-0700
In plain terms
A 1980 JPL paper already worked out how to move a two-thousand-tonne payload from low orbit to high orbit using electric thrusters. It needed 150 megawatts of electrical power and took between 160 and 213 days depending on which thruster was used. The magnetoplasmadynamic option needed only 23 thrusters against 920 to 2,000 for the ion options.
The claim as recorded
Electric orbital transfer HAS been modelled at true SBSP mass scale, in 1980. JPL's Figure 2, headed "PAYLOAD - 2 x 10^6 KG" and "POWER - 150 MW", gives solar-array cargo orbital transfer vehicle performance for three options: 120 cm argon ion at Isp 5,000 s, 51 per cent efficiency, 2,000 thrusters, 205 days; the same thruster at Isp 8,000 s, 72 per cent, 920 thrusters, 213 days; and argon MPD at Isp 5,000 s, 57 per cent, 23 thrusters, 160 days.
Scope and limits
A 1980 conceptual study using thruster performance projected, not demonstrated - the paper's own abstract says "Recent experiments tend to confirm past projections". No held source reports an MPD thruster flown at the roughly 6.5 MW each that this option implies (150 MW over 23 thrusters), as of the record's writing in 2026-09. The figure gives no delta-v, no starting orbit and no propellant mass. Trip time is stated without a stated thrust-to-mass derivation.
What it assumes
that "payload" means the mass transferred from LEO to GEO.
Where it comes from
Figure 2 read from a 3x page render, captioned "Solar array COTV mission performance with MPD and ion thrusters", with the headers "PAYLOAD - 2 x 10^6 KG" and "POWER - 150 MW" printed above the table. The text layer drops the superscript, rendering 10^6 as "106", which is why the figure was image-read.
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-040 not published in this release
- Contradicts
- CLM-0679 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0700
CLM-0700, Energy Aperture, as of 1980.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-190
- CLM-0701The 1980 study assumes each kilogram being moved has 75 watts of electrical power pushing it. One real electric satellite manages between...CLM-0702Electric trips from a low orbit to a high one took four to seven months on real flights and in most models held here, and NASA's four-month...