Value chain · CLM-1033
In plain terms
At the higher of NASA's two peak figures, the launches would have needed about 6 per cent of US daily hydrogen output and 30 per cent of its oxygen, and making the hydrogen by splitting water would have consumed about half the output of one of the satellites being launched. NASA's own report gives two different figures for how much fuel that is.
The claim as recorded
NASA's 1981 volume states the programme's peak propellant demand in two incompatible places - "approximately 500 metric tons of liquid hydrogen and 5000 metric tons of liquid oxygen per day" in the summary and "1000 metric tons of liquid hydrogen and 10,000 metric tons of liquid oxygen" in section 3.3, the latter "approximately 6% and 30% of the present daily U.S. production rate" - and finds that electrolysis at 1,000 t/day of hydrogen needs "nearly 3 GW", "the energy equivalent of nearly one half of an SPS", that coal gasification needs a sixth of the power but 6.4 kg of coal per kg of hydrogen and over the programme "approximately 15% of all the coal mined in the U.S. in 1970", and that electrolysis is "only twice as expensive as coal gasification" once the logistics of moving western coal to Cape Kennedy are counted; the JSC cost basis prices hydrogen at $1.53/kg and oxygen at $0.037/kg in 1977 dollars, with 346 t of hydrogen and 7,458 t of oxygen per HLLV flight.
Evidence behind this: T3-programme summary that states its peak propellant demand in two incompatible places.
Scope and limits
The two NASA figures differ by a factor of two and neither matches the JSC per-flight quantities at the stated launch rate (346 t of hydrogen at 1 to 1.2 flights a day is 350 to 415 t/day). The 3 GW is for electrolysis at 1,000 t/day; the "half an SPS" rests on the 5 GW rating. The page's "nearly one half" is 60 per cent on its own figures (second reader, VER-1274).
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
PDF p.21 / xix, render read: "At its peak, the SPS program will require the production of approximately 500 metric tons of liquid hydrogen and 5000 metric tons of liquid oxygen per day." PDF p.104 / 3-8, render read: "peak daily propellant consumption is anticipated to be in the order of 1000 metric tons of liquid hydrogen and 10,000 metric tons of liquid oxygen. These large amounts of hydrogen and oxygen are approximately 6% and 30% of the present daily U.S. production rate, respectively". PDF p.106-107 / 3-10 to 3-11: "At a hydrogen production rate of 1000 metric tons per day, nearly 3 GW of power are required. This means that, near the end of the SPS production phase, the energy equivalent of nearly one half of an SPS will be required." PDF p.108 / 3-12: "Every kilogram of hydrogen produced requires 6.4 kg of coal, 5.3 kg of water, and 6.9 kg of oxygen ... the total coal consumed throughout the SPS program will be approximately 15% of all the coal mined in the U.S. in 1970." PDF p.111 / 3-15: "electrolytic production of propellant is only twice as expensive as coal gasification". SRC-532 PDF p.127 / B-19, render read: "H2 346 TONNES @ $1.53/kg ... O2 7,458 TONNES @ $.037/kg".
Basis: tonnes per day; GW; per cent of US production; USD 1977 per kg
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-003 not published in this releaseQST-008 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1033
CLM-1033, Energy Aperture, as of 1981.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-532
- CLM-1024The 1979 government estimate put a heavy-lift flight at about ten million dollars of the day, most of it people refurbishing the vehicle...CLM-1026The electric ferry takes half a year to climb to geostationary orbit but burns about an eighth of a kilogram of argon for every kilogram it...CLM-1027Getting a crew from low orbit up to the construction site took half a day and a stage the size of a small airliner, refuelled at the top...CLM-1028Building the rockets was priced at seventeen billion 1977 dollars and running them at about 2.8 billion per satellite, or roughly sixty...CLM-1029In 1980 the programme's own accounting had rockets at roughly one dollar in four of a satellite's cost and nearly one in two of the money...CLM-1030The independent 1980 cost review said the government's rocket numbers were fair for the stage the programme was at, then added spare...CLM-1031A launcher a third the size of the reference one would cost about a fifth more per kilogram to fly and need four launches a day instead of...CLM-1034The programme's transportation workshop said the schedule was probably unrealistic, and the programme's cost reviewer said the launcher...
- Also from SRC-555
- CLM-1023The programme's last word on its rockets describes a launcher of about 11,000 tonnes at liftoff flying about once a day, gives fleet sizes...CLM-1025In 1980 the people building the case set themselves a goal of thirty dollars a kilogram to low orbit, hoped for fifteen later, and said in...CLM-1026The electric ferry takes half a year to climb to geostationary orbit but burns about an eighth of a kilogram of argon for every kilogram it...CLM-1027Getting a crew from low orbit up to the construction site took half a day and a stage the size of a small airliner, refuelled at the top...CLM-1029In 1980 the programme's own accounting had rockets at roughly one dollar in four of a satellite's cost and nearly one in two of the money...CLM-1031A launcher a third the size of the reference one would cost about a fifth more per kilogram to fly and need four launches a day instead of...CLM-1034The programme's transportation workshop said the schedule was probably unrealistic, and the programme's cost reviewer said the launcher...