Value chain · CLM-0976
In plain terms
In the 1979 Boeing design the machines that extrude the satellite's beams ran at 5 metres a minute, with about half an hour of fixed handling per beam segment, and the assembly line that laid beams and unrolled solar blankets together advanced at half a metre a minute.
The claim as recorded
The Boeing Phase II final briefing of November 1979 gives the beam-machine fabrication rate as 5 metres per minute, in the step "(5m/min x L)" for fabricating and indexing one beam segment, between fixed steps of 5, 10, 10 and 5 minutes for aiming the machine, attaching each end fitting and handoff; and gives the combined rate for fabricating a longitudinal beam while indexing and deploying the solar array as 0.5 metres per minute. The first is the machine's linear rate; the second is the pace of the assembly line it feeds.
Evidence behind this: T3-contractor briefing chart, figures stated without derivation. The charts carry the Grumman mark; Grumman built the beam machines.
Scope and limits
A BRIEFING CHART, NOT A DERIVATION: the 5 m/min is stated, and the document says its step times are estimates. The text layer renders the 0.5 as "0.6"; the figure was read from a 5x render and the layer is wrong on that digit. The derivation belongs to the Phase II final report volumes D180-25461-2 and -3, which are NOT HELD. The 0.5 m/min is the rate of one assembly operation on the energy-conversion structure, not a satellite-level throughput; converting it to bays per day needs the bay length and the number of machines working in parallel (ten longitudinal beam machines and three mobile ones for the first bay, PDF 245-246), which this record does not do.
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
Printed p.243 (PDF 244), Energy Conversion Structure Fabrication and Assembly Flow, from the render: a bracket "(5m/min x L)" spans the boxes FAB BEAM SEGMENT and INDEX FOR FITTING, with AIM BEAM MACHINE 5 min, ATTACH END FITTING 10 min, ATTACH 2ND END FITTING 10 min, HANDOFF 5 min. Printed p.241 (PDF 242), Energy Conversion System Assembly Timeline - Update, from a 5x render: "FAB LONG., INDEX, DEPLOY S/A (0.5 m/min)". Printed p.242: "Times are estimated for each of the functions which comprise the fabrication of segmented lateral beam for subsequent attachment to the continuous longitudinal beams."
Basis: metres per minute of beam fabricated; minutes per fixed step
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-015 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0976
CLM-0976, Energy Aperture, as of 1979-11.