METRIC FLIGHT / MISSION ENGINEERING / 24 OCTOBER 2026
Study the additional electrical load, radiator demand and eclipse storage that an electric propulsion option would impose on ARLO.
Full engine input
Power + propellant
Momentum leaves
Onboard heat only
Exhaust and radiator are different energy paths from the engine; their sizes here do not encode power fractions.
Electrical input reaches the complete propulsion system. Useful energy leaves in the exhaust. Some energy heats hardware; other energy can leave directly. Measure onboard heat before adding radiator area.
THE ENGINEERING / ARLO propulsion power and thermal budget
Account for RF generation and matching, power processing, coils, control electronics, valves and feed-system loads. Define efficiency at a stated boundary. Comparing coil demand alone omits the rest of the engine and can misstate the benefit of a new magnet arrangement.
Jet kinetic energy leaves in the exhaust. Other energy may leave in plasma, radiation or propellant enthalpy, or deposit in hardware. Measure that partition before sizing the station thermal interface. Use a separate onboard heat input rather than assigning every non-jet watt to the radiator.
The existing station concept uses 60 kW electrical load, a 36-minute eclipse, 80% usable battery depth and 90% discharge efficiency: 50 kWh nameplate before reserve. Adding the illustrative 9.807 kW propulsion load throughout eclipse raises that to 58.17 kWh. This is a conditional sizing case, not a required operating mode. Scheduling firing in sunlight can avoid this added eclipse demand, but constrains the maneuver.
Allocate stray-field limits near instruments and navigation sensors. Check RF interference, grounding, charging, plume impingement and magnetic forces on nearby hardware. Protect array and radiator views throughout gimbal motion. A thermally acceptable magnet can still be incompatible with a payload or docking corridor.
Replace constant loads with an orbit-resolved model including charging losses, array degradation, shadowing, payload scheduling and failed equipment. The apparent margin in a single operating point is not a flight-readiness result. Close thermal-vacuum and electromagnetic compatibility tests against agreed interfaces.
INTERACTIVE / CONDITIONAL LOAD CASE
Fixed study assumptions: 60 kW baseline electrical load; 50 kW baseline heat; 36-minute eclipse; 80% battery usable depth; 90% discharge efficiency; radiator at 300 K, effective sink 230 K, emissivity 0.85; 25% area margin. The effective sink is a simplified model, not the temperature of space.
The 3 kW heat input is an independent illustration, not a measurement. Area is based on peak concurrent heat, not eclipse-average load. Battery result excludes reserve, aging and charging requirements. Emitting area differs from panel footprint. The 260 m² station reference is not a qualified capacity.
E = (60 + P × fraction) × 0.6 / (0.8 × 0.9) kWh. A = (50 + Q) × 1000 × 1.25 / [0.85 × σ × (300⁴ − 230⁴)], with σ = 5.670374419 × 10⁻⁸ W m⁻² K⁻⁴. Electrical demand and thermal interface load require separate measurements. This calculator does not solve solar generation or the full orbit energy balance.
These pages describe Metric Flight proposals and calculations, not qualified hardware. External references establish engineering context; they do not validate our station architecture.
CONTINUE THE MISSION
Explore how propulsion research connects to ARLO, lunar transport, power, cooling and investment milestones.
Read the study ↗03 / EXPLORESeparate long-duration station reboost from time-critical avoidance, docking constraints and verified end-of-life disposal.
Read the study ↗04 / EXPLOREUnderstand the separate launch, transfer, landing, ascent and return requirements behind the Metric Flight Moon station concept.
Read the study ↗05 / EXPLOREFollow the measurement gates from reference momentum closure through magnetic redesign, system comparison and a possible uncrewed demonstration.
Read the study ↗06 / EXPLOREReview current computational assets, proposed hardware, station concepts and the evidence required before stronger commercial or IP claims.
Read the study ↗FROM UNDERSTANDING TO REVIEW
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