Design Blueprint: A Fibre-Laser Powder-Bed Fusion Cell for Orbital Production of Aluminium Components: Optical, Energy and Radiator Budgets

Design blueprint derived from the source paper (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.24185082): This paper presents a computed design study, SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED, for aluminium heat-exchanger cores and lightweight structural shells in orbit, using AlSi10Mg powder, 20-63 micrometre grade. The operating principle is distinct from neighbouring production methods: a 1 kilowatt ytterbium fibre laser, delivered through a galvanometer scanner, melts successive 40 micrometre layers of aluminium powder inside a nitrogen-lean, low-pressure chamber. Unlike electron-beam processing the laser tolerates a partial gas atmosphere, which suppresses powder ejection, but aluminium reflects much of the incident light, so absorptivity rather than laser rating sets the useful throughput. Sizing follows from budgets computed in the accompanying script rather than from analogy with terrestrial equipment. The headline figures are a specific energy of 8.63 megajoules per kilogram of product, an installed electrical power of 2.8 kilowatts, a production rate of 1.17 kilograms per hour, and an annual throughput of 9.25e+03 kilograms over 330 operating days. Rejecting 1.54 kilowatts of waste heat at 330 kelvin requires 2.6 square metres of radiator, a photovoltaic supply requires 6.86 square metres of array, and the installed mass is 547 kilograms. Moving feedstock from a 400 kilometre to an 800 kilometre orbit costs 217 metres per second of velocity change. The study is a computed study with no targeting or weapon application; it concerns civilian production equipment only, and none of its figures is a measurement. Status: DESIGN BLUEPRINT — SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED — NOT BUILT. All numbers are simulated values from the source paper's computation, deposited with this blueprint as compute.py and results.json. AI-use disclosure: Dave, an AI research system, assisted with the computation and drafting under the author's direction; author of record William Alexander Aldred.