zlacker

Note: In my napkin math I forgot they could maybe use both the front and the back of the panel so it would be “merely” the area of one pentagon. I’ve edited that.

But the launch cost would remain the same as my original estimate because it was based on weight per “effective radiator area” of current best-practice space materials.

>>reaper+(OP)
Yeah there are clearly gains to be made by clever use of geometries etc, but the gist of your math is still sound.

Thesw kind of calculations are ballpark stuff. Even if they are a magnitude better these are still uneconomical numbers.