Design Blueprint: A Contactless Electromagnetic Levitation Foundry for Orbital Casting of Nickel Superalloy Parts: Induction, Radiation and Energy Budgets

Design blueprint derived from the source paper (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.24185015): This paper presents a computed design study, SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED, for small turbine-grade castings and single-crystal seed stock in orbit, using pre-alloyed nickel superalloy spheres, 40 gram charge. The operating principle is distinct from neighbouring production methods: a radio-frequency coil both levitates and inductively heats a free-floating metal charge, which melts without touching any crucible and therefore without crucible contamination. Cooling is purely radiative, which the budget treats explicitly. The process trades throughput for purity: each charge is small, but the product is material that terrestrial crucible melting cannot deliver at the same cleanliness. Sizing follows from budgets computed in the accompanying script rather than from analogy with terrestrial equipment. The headline figures are a specific energy of 4.2 megajoules per kilogram of product, an installed electrical power of 5 kilowatts, a production rate of 4.29 kilograms per hour, and an annual throughput of 3.4e+04 kilograms over 330 operating days. Rejecting 2.75 kilowatts of waste heat at 350 kelvin requires 3.67 square metres of radiator, a photovoltaic supply requires 12.2 square metres of array, and the installed mass is 499 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.