required collector area can be calculated as a function of the orbit altitude, as illustrated in Figure 7, using the values of Table 2 as a reference point and the above derived relations. A comparison of Figure 2 and Figure 7 demonstrates the effect of the relative and absolute eclipse time on the collector area and receiver/storage mass, respectively. Figure 8 shows the comparison of the total system's mass and the collector area of the two options versus the orbit altitude. The higher system efficiency of the dynamic option only is of relevance if the collector area is of importance. This is the fact either for orbits where the residual atmosphere is causing a significant drag, i.e. for altitudes below 700 km or when the total collector area is limited for deployment or mechanical reasons. One of the assumptions for the relation shown in Figure 7 and Figure 8 was that the system for each orbit altitude can be derived from the reference system by just adapting the collector and the receiver/storage unit according to the changed relative and absolute eclipse time. In this adaptation a linear design change of the receiver in order to allow integration and appropriate operation of the storage system was included. A system optimization according to the orbit altitude has to consider two additional points: 1) The influence of the changed solar flux on the absorber walls inside the receiver. This flux increases for a given receiver size with the collector area, i.e. with the relative eclipse time.
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