Value chain · CLM-0821
In plain terms
In a 2002 Japanese study of the 1978 US design, a table splits the estimated carbon dioxide from building and launching the system by part: solar cells are the biggest share at 57 per cent, the ground receiving antennas next at 25 per cent, propellant 11 per cent, the space transport vehicles 6 per cent (almost all of it the vehicle that moves cargo between orbits; the launch rockets themselves are under 1 per cent), and the satellite structure and the space bases under 1 per cent each.
The claim as recorded
Table 3, covering the DOE/NASA SPS Reference System at 60 units in units of 10,000 t of CO2, gives a total of 158,007, i.e. 1.58 billion t CO2, of which photo-voltaic cells are 90,393 or 57.2 per cent of total, rectenna 38,688 or 24.5 per cent, propellants 17,473 or 11.1 per cent, combined space transportation being HLLV 412 plus PLV 12 plus COTV 9,576 plus POTV 4 at 10,004 or 6.3 per cent, satellite structure 1,424 or 0.9 per cent, and space bases 24 at under 0.1 per cent.
Scope and limits
The percentages are arithmetic on the printed absolute figures, not printed by the paper, which gives only rounded prose values of "some 60 %" for PV cells and "some 30 %" for the rectenna. CO2 only. Excludes maintenance. The unit prefix is 10,000 t of CO2, not tonnes, and misreading it understates every figure by four orders of magnitude. The ten rows sum to 158,006, one unit under the printed total, probably rounding in the source (our inference). Of the 10,004 space transportation units, 9,576 are the COTV, which the paper's Table 2 names the Cargo Orbital Transfer Vehicle; the two launch vehicles, HLLV and PLV, are 424, about 0.3 per cent of the total (our arithmetic).
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
Table 3, printed p.4 (PDF p.7), units 10 thousand tons of CO2, transcribed cell by cell in page order: Space Transportation: HLLV 412, PLV 12, COTV 9576, POTV 4; Space Bases: LEO Base 5, GEO Construction Base 19; Solar Power Satellite: Satellite Structure 1424, Photo-voltaic Cells 90393; Other Components: Rectenna 38688, Propellants 17473; Total 158007.
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-008 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0821
CLM-0821, Energy Aperture, as of 2002.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-216
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