Value chain · CLM-1192
In plain terms
With 1990 technology the orbiting system came out heavier per kilowatt than solar panels on the ground with enough storage for the lunar night. With the technology the study projected, the four-satellite reference came to about 330 kg per kilowatt, below the roughly 500 projected for surface solar but far above the roughly 20 for a large nuclear plant.
The claim as recorded
The study's specific masses for a 1 MW system (Table 3) run from 2,920 kg/kW (Case 1, state of the art, 2.45 GHz) down to 84 kg/kW (Case 3, thin film, 300 GHz), with the Case 2 advanced reference at 100 GHz at 327 kg/kW. It compares these with projections of about 20 kg/kW for high-power surface nuclear and about 500 kg/kW for continuous surface solar, and finds every state-of-the-art case, and Case 1 advanced, heavier than the surface solar option. Its masses are surface-equivalent: orbiting mass is counted at half.
Evidence behind this: T3, a NASA Lewis Research Center conference paper (25th IECEC, Reno, August 1990) that calls itself a "zero-th order" feasibility analysis (PDF 3 [1]) and "an initial scoping document": spreadsheet projections, not built hardware.
Scope and limits
SPREADSHEET PROJECTIONS AGAINST PROJECTIONS. The surface figures are cited from another source ([1]), not computed here. The thin-film masses carry "a large error band" (PDF 7). Logistics, maintenance and support are left to future work (PDF 3). No system optimisation was done beyond antenna and rectenna size trades (PDF 6).
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
PDF 6 [4]: "The specific masses range from 2920 kg/kw using state of the art technology at 2.45 GHz to 84 kg/kw using thin film technology at 300 GHz. For any of the three cases using state of the art technologies, and Case 1 advanced, the resulting specific masses are greater than the surface solar option."; "masses presented are surface equivalent masses (ie orbiting masses are added as half of what they would weigh on the surface)". Table 3 "Specific Mass Results", PDF 7 [5] at render: 100 GHz, Case 2, Adv, 327. PDF 3 [1]: "Specific masses for surface power plants are projected to range from a low of approximately 20 kg/kw for high powered nuclear up to approximately 500 kg/kw for continuous solar power [1]."
Basis: specific mass in kg per kW of continuous surface power, surface-equivalent; technology level; frequency in GHz
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1192
CLM-1192, Energy Aperture, as of 1990-08.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-393
- CLM-1189A 1990 NASA study of powering a Moon base from orbit put the satellites in circles over the Moon's equator, beaming down to a flat receiver...CLM-1190The study's reference design uses four satellites about 2,500 km above the Moon, each about the size of a space station (148 by 58 m): a 58...CLM-1191The study sized its transmitting and receiving antennas with a standard beam formula, assumed about half the transmitted power would be...