Value chain · CLM-1434
In plain terms
With launch and assembly at a third of the price and a cheaper power source, the 1975 study's costs per kilowatt fall at every size, by about 40 per cent for 1 GW and about two thirds for 20 GW. The largest stations still sit at their cheapest between about 1.5 and 3 GHz, around 610 dollars per kilowatt for 20 GW.
The claim as recorded
Raytheon's 1975 Figure 12-7 (transport and assembly at 100 $/kg, power source at 200 $/kW) plots direct capital cost against frequency from 1 to 5 GHz for 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 GW of ground output. Graph-read to about +/- 50 $/kW, the 1 GW curve falls from about 4,060 $/kW at 1 GHz to about 2,070 at 4.5 to 5 GHz, and the 2 GW curve from about 2,250 at 1.05 GHz to about 1,330 at 4 to 4.5 GHz. The 5, 10 and 20 GW curves have shallow minima of about 950 to 970, 750 and 610 $/kW, between 2 and 3 GHz, near 2.0 to 2.25 GHz and near 1.5 to 2.0 GHz, and reach about 990, 880 and 760 at 4.5 GHz.
Evidence behind this: T3-the programme's own 1975 contractor trade study, held as a scanned plot; the costs are graph-read by us from the printed curves, not printed numbers.
Scope and limits
GRAPH-READ FROM A DEGRADED SCAN, NOT PRINTED NUMBERS. Each value is a line centre on lines about 100 $/kW thick. The 10 and 20 GW lines merge from about 2.3 to 3.7 GHz and the 5 and 10 GW lines meet at the right end, so the readings either side assume the lines keep the order they have at 1 GHz. The two figures change transport and assembly from 300 to 100 $/kg and the power source from 500 to 200 $/kW at once, so the difference between them is not the effect of launch price alone. The power source mass reads "0 75" with no visible decimal point and is read as 0.75 kg/kW; it is not used in any value here.
What it assumes
Linear axes, fitted on the printed ticks; no rotation taken out (the vertical axis is upright to 0.5 px), the x-axis line's 5.5 px fall across the plot being inside the stated precision; each reading is the centre of a printed line about 100 $/kW thick.
Where it comes from
PDF p.95 / printed 12-14, zoom-5 crop. Caption: "Figure 12-7. SPS Capital Cost vs Frequency - 100 $/kg". Vertical axis "DIRECT CAPITAL COST" in $/kW, ticks 0 to 5000 every 1000 (the 1000 label is faint); horizontal axis "FREQUENCY" in GHz, ticks 1 to 5. Curves labelled at the left under "GROUND OUTPUT POWER": "1 GW", "2 GW", "5 GW", "10 GW", "20 GW". Legend, transcribed: "TRANSPORTATION AND ASSEMBLY 100 $/kg"; "POWER SOURCE 200 $/kw" and "0 75" kg/kW, the decimal point not visible; "MPTS", "BEAM TAPER 5 dB", "BEAM EFF 90%", "CONVERTER AMPLITRON", aluminium material. Graph-read, $/kW at GHz (+/- 50 $/kW, +/- 0.03 GHz). 1 GW: 1.0 4060, 1.05 3960, 1.25 3520, 1.5 3140, 1.75 2870, 2.0 2670, 2.25 2510, 2.5 2400, 3.0 2270, 3.5 2170, 4.0 2100, 4.5 2070, 4.95 2070. 2 GW: 1.05 2250, 1.25 2030, 1.5 1830, 1.75 1680, 2.0 1570, 2.25 1480, 2.5 1430, 3.0 1380, 3.5 1350, 4.0 1330, 4.5 1330, 4.95 1340. 5 GW: 1.0 1240, 1.05 1220, 1.25 1140, 1.5 1060, 1.75 1010, 2.0 970, 2.5 950, 3.0 960, 3.5 980, 4.0 980, 4.5 990; the printed line has a gap near 2.25 GHz. 10 GW: 1.05 860, 1.25 820, 1.5 780, 1.75 760, 2.0 750, 2.25 750, 4.0 850, 4.5 880. 20 GW: 1.25 630, 1.5 620, 1.75 610, 2.0 620, 2.25 630, 4.0 730, 4.5 760, 4.95 790. Where lines touch: 10 and 20 GW together span about 600 to 820 at 2.5 GHz, 650 to 850 at 3.0 GHz and 670 to 870 at 3.5 GHz; 5 and 10 GW together span about 860 to 1,040 at 4.95 GHz.
Basis: 1975 dollars per kW of ground output; GHz; GW of ground output
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-017 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1434
CLM-1434, Energy Aperture, as of 1975-12.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-451
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