Value chain · CLM-0963
In plain terms
The 1978 reference design expected each satellite to take six months to build in orbit, using a crew of roughly 550 to 700 people. Two figures in the same report disagree about how many of them were in low orbit.
The claim as recorded
The 1978 Reference System put construction time at six months per satellite in geosynchronous orbit, with initial construction crew estimates of 555 for the silicon option (480 in GEO, 75 in LEO) and 715 for the GaAlAs option (680 in GEO, 35 in LEO). The same report's Figure 37 gives the silicon LEO staging base as 225 people, which does not reconcile with the 75 in the prose.
Evidence behind this: T3-government-report, "initial estimates" in the report's own words.
Scope and limits
Six months per satellite and two per year fit one base building back to back: printed p.69 (PDF 81) puts the next satellite's material in transit while one is built and says "once the process is underway, two SPS's are being produced every year". The 75-versus-225 LEO crew discrepancy is internal to the source and is recorded, not resolved; 75 equals the PLV per-flight capacity of 75 people in the same figure, which may be the confusion, but that is inference.
What it assumes
Six months is per satellite at steady state, after the nine-month GEO base build and the two-year lead to first production.
Where it comes from
Printed p.11 onto p.14, normalised: "The satellite is constructed in geosynchronous orbit with construction time being six months. The initial estimates of construction crew size are 555 for the silicon option (480 in GEO and 75 in LEO) and 715 for the GaAlAs option (680 in GEO and 35 in LEO)." Figure 37 table rows as extracted: "LEO STAGING BASE ... PEOPLE 225 35 ... GEO CONSTR BASE ... PEOPLE 480 680". Printed p.69: "Nine months are required to construct the GEO base. After two years, all of the major elements are available to begin production of the first SPS."
Basis: one 5 GW satellite; construction crew headcount
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-015 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0963
CLM-0963, Energy Aperture, as of 1978-10.
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.