Value chain · CLM-1412
In plain terms
A 2022 study for the European Space Agency describes the receiving station as a fairly open grid of small antennas about 10 centimetres apart, which might let the land underneath be used for something else. It says the basic layout goes back to Raytheon and NASA in the late 1970s.
The claim as recorded
Frazer-Nash's 2022 cost-benefit study for ESA describes the rectenna as a grid of rectifying antennas about 100 mm apart, open enough for possible other use of the land, on a layout it credits to Raytheon and NASA in the late 1970s. The study says "The structure of the rectenna is relatively simple; a grid of interconnected rectifying antennas placed about 100mm apart supported on a suitable structure", that "The rectenna grid is relatively open, so there is the possibility that the area of land covered by the rectenna could also be used for other purposes, recognising the local effects of the microwave field", and that "The basic arrangement of a rectenna was established in the late 1970's by Raytheon and NASA", with the developments still needed centred on "optimising the configuration".
Evidence behind this: T4, as the SRC-078 row: an ESA-commissioned consultancy study. The rectenna text is a short description in the study's architecture overview, not a design or a measurement.
Scope and limits
A DESCRIPTION, NOT A DESIGN. "About 100mm" is a round figure. The page gives no grid pattern, element type, dipole orientation, polarisation or frequency, and no source for the figure. At 2.45 GHz, 100 mm is about 0.82 wavelength, and a square grid at 100 mm gives 100 cm2 per element (our arithmetic), against the 1980 design's 70 cm2 "typical" capture area (CLM-1077) and Raytheon's 1977 50 cm2 diamond cell (CLM-1100). The land-use sentence is a possibility the study raises, not an assessment (compare CLM-1408 to CLM-1411). The Raytheon and NASA attribution is the study's own and is not referenced on the page.
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
PDF 22 [22], section 3.2.2.2 "Ground Station", raw: "The structure of the rectenna is relatively simple; a grid of interconnected rectifying antennas placed about 100mm apart supported on a suitable structure." Same page, raw: "The rectenna grid is relatively open, so there is the possibility that the area of land covered by the rectenna could also be used for other purposes, recognising the local effects of the microwave field." PDF 73 [73], "Ground Receive & Convert Activities", normalised (the layer's curly apostrophe): "The basic arrangement of a rectenna was established in the late 1970's by Raytheon and NASA."; raw: "The key developments that will be required centre around optimising the configuration to maximise efficiency and energy collection while minimising cost."
Basis: element spacing in mm
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1412
CLM-1412, Energy Aperture, as of 2022-07.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-078
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