Value chain · CLM-1204
In plain terms
A 1981 US government study worked out what happens when an airliner flies through the beam. Its wings would reflect some of the beam, mostly away from the cabin. It judged the passengers' exposure insignificant, because the windows are small and the plane is in the beam for under a minute.
The claim as recorded
The US programme's 1981 electromagnetic compatibility assessment states that a commercial aircraft flying through an SPS power beam would reflect 20 to 50 kW from its wing surfaces, about 60 per cent of it away from the fuselage because of wing curvature and dihedral, and judges the short exposure to passengers insignificant because of the small window area and the crossing time of about 0.5 to 1 minute.
Scope and limits
AN ASSESSMENT, NOT A TEST. No aircraft was flown or measured; the page gives no calculation, cabin power density, aircraft type or altitude. Its airframes are metal: a paragraph two above it on the same page says composites and plastics would cut vehicle shielding by 6 to 10 dB (stated there for cars), and a modern composite airliner is not assessed. It names no aviation rule. It concerns the 2.45 GHz reference beam (23 mW/cm2, i.e. 230 W/m2, at the rectenna centre per Figure 7, PDF 12 [printed 9]).
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
PDF 20: "Commercial aircraft flying through an SPS power beam will have powers reflected from wing surfaces in the range of 20-50 kW, with approximately 60% of this power reflected away from the fuselage because of wing surface curvature and dihedral angle. The short term exposure to passengers is insignificant because of the small window area and the short time exposure (~ 0.5-1 min)." The text layer reads "<~ 0.5-1 min"; the render shows a tilde before 0.5.
Basis: kilowatts reflected from an airliner's wings while crossing the beam; minutes of exposure
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1204
CLM-1204, Energy Aperture, as of 1981-01.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-543
- CLM-1000By 1981 the government's own compatibility study said the satellite's frequency band had not actually been allocated to it, listed which...CLM-1001Besides the deliberate beam and the tubes' noise, the satellite's fifty square kilometres of warm solar array glow faintly at radio...CLM-1002The 1981 study tells you exactly which international rulebooks it measured the satellite against, report by report, and warns that the...CLM-1205A 1981 US study worked out what a satellite in low orbit feels when it flies through the beam. For a craft like LANDSAT, the strongest part...