Value chain · CLM-1217
Low confidence
The evidence behind this statement is thin, indirect or second-hand. Read it as a lead to check, not as a settled finding.
In plain terms
In a 2023 talk, the designer said four satellites in a stretched 8-hour orbit could keep three receiving sites supplied day and night all year. The slide gives the figures but not how they were worked out.
The claim as recorded
The designer's 2023 slides list a north/south 8-hour highly elliptical orbit (HEO) option for CASSIOPEIA: 4 satellites serving 3 rectennas, 24 hours a day all year, with a 75% factor, at a minimum of 310 MW and 470 tonnes and a maximum of 1.4 GW and 1,400 tonnes. The same slide lists a north/south 4-hour HEO option at 53% factor with 4 satellites to 3 rectennas and "52 hours/day shared flexibly", and GEO at 99.7% factor with 1 satellite to 1 rectenna.
Evidence behind this: The designer's own conference slides (ADV). A list of orbit options with figures; no method, no study behind them on the page.
Scope and limits
A COMPANY'S OWN SLIDE, NOT A STUDY OR A RESULT. No method is given for the 75% factor, the 24/365 or the cost remarks. "Factor" is not defined on the slide (it may be a capacity factor; unverified). "Excellent LCOE" is the company's own label, with no figure. The drawing (render, PDF 33) shows the 8-hour orbit's apogee over the northern hemisphere; the label "North/South" suggests either hemisphere is an option, which the slide does not explain. The site locations, orbit shape and satellite spacing are not given. Not covered: whether any later company document changes these options.
What it assumes
That "24/365" means supply around the clock all year to the three rectennas taken together; the slide does not say whether each rectenna is supplied continuously.
Where it comes from
PDF 33 [slide 32], raw (one en dash written as a hyphen): "North/South 8-hour HEO: Min 310 MW, 470 tonne, max 1.4 GW, 1400 tonne, 75% factor: 4 satellites to 3 rectennas, 24/365 - excellent LCOE (Cost to orbit is much less than for GEO/GSO)". Same slide, raw: "North/South 4-hour Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO): Min 180 MW, 275 tonne, max 810 MW, 810 tonne, 53% factor: 4 satellites to 3 rectennas, 52 hours/day shared flexibly, including 24 hours to one region". Same slide, raw: "Geosynchronous & Geostationary Orbits (GSO/GEO): Min 440 MW, 670 tonne, max 2 GW, 2000 tonne, 99.7% factor: 1 satellite to 1 rectenna, 24/365". Slide title, raw: "CASSIOPEIA Orbits for Affordable Energy Delivery"; "[Orbits are to scale]".
Basis: delivered power (MW, GW); satellite mass (tonnes); a percentage "factor"; satellites per rectenna; hours of supply
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1217
CLM-1217, Energy Aperture, as of 2023-05.