Value chain · CLM-0985
In plain terms
By 1981 the programme put about four hundred people at the orbital construction base, with roughly two-thirds of them on the actual building work and the rest running the base, each staying about ninety days. The prime contractor's 1979 plan for the same base had ten-hour shifts six days a week.
The claim as recorded
The programme's 1981 consolidated position is a GEO construction base of about 400 people building each 5 GW satellite in 6 months, about 270 of them directly on construction including maintenance of the construction machines, plus about 135 at a LEO base, on 90-day rotations. Boeing's 1979 figures for the same concept are 444 at GEO, of whom about 185 are on base functions and so about 259 on construction, and 229 at LEO, working 10-hour shifts 6 days a week.
Evidence behind this: T3, the programme summary and the prime contractor's operations volume for the same concept.
Scope and limits
THE CREW FIGURES ACROSS 1978-1981 - 555 AND 715, 673, 535, 904 - ARE DIFFERENT CONCEPTS, CONTRACTORS AND SATELLITE DEFINITIONS, NOT A TREND.
What it assumes
444 minus 185 equals 259 is a subtraction made here; the source states the figure itself on the same page (SRC-466 printed 2-17, PDF 23, the paragraph above the 444) as "There will be approximately 260 spaceworkers involved in the construction operations", so the claim's "about 259" is the source's "approximately 260".
Where it comes from
p.6, normalised: "with a crew of about 400 people, constructs each 5-gigawatt SPS in 6 months. Of the 400 people, about 270 are involved directly in construction, which includes deploying the solar energy conversion system, assembling the antenna, installing various subsystems, maintaining construction equipment (beambuilders, cherrypickers, transporters, manipulators, etc.), and performing base logistics and testing. The remainder of the personnel provide base operations and support functions"; "About 135 crewmen" at LEO; "It is assumed that crewmen rotate about every 90 days". SRC-466 2-17: "the GEO base crew size of 444 people. These crewmembers work 10 hours shifts, 6 days each week, and are in orbit for 90 days each tour of duty"; the preceding sentence gives "about 185 people" for flight vehicle support, habitation, base subsystems, base maintenance, training, health and safety. PDF 20: "the total LEO base crew size of 229 people."
Basis: crew on board; crew on construction; shift length; tour length
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-015 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0985
CLM-0985, Energy Aperture, as of 1981.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-465
- CLM-0982The famous six months to build a satellite in orbit was decided first and the designs were fitted to it. One contractor says outright that...CLM-0984The programme's own arithmetic for the antenna frame: each beam takes its length divided by five metres a minute plus twenty minutes to...CLM-0987They built in high orbit not because it was cheaper - the 1978 numbers said low orbit was - but because a half-built satellite in low orbit...
- Also from SRC-466
- CLM-0982The famous six months to build a satellite in orbit was decided first and the designs were fitted to it. One contractor says outright that...